File KERMIT.UPD (MSKERM.UPD) January 1995
SUPPLEMENT TO "USING MS-DOS KERMIT":
CHANGES AND NEW FEATURES SINCE VERSION 3.11
Most recent update: Fri Jan 5 10:08:09 1996
MS-DOS Kermit is:
Copyright (C) 1982, 1995, Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New
York. The MS-DOS Kermit software may not be, in whole or in part, licensed
or sold for profit as a software product itself, nor may it be included in
or distributed with commercial products or otherwise distributed by
commercial concerns to their clients or customers without written permission
of the Office of Kermit Development and Distribution, Columbia University.
This copyright notice must not be removed, altered, or obscured.
Kermit software is furnished without warranty of any kind. Neither Columbia
University, nor the individual authors, nor Digital Press, nor Data General
Corporation, nor any other institution or individual that has contributed to
the development or documentation warrant the software in any way.
See the file KERMIT.HLP (MSKERM.HLP) for contact information.
CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION
(0) THE "KERMIT" ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE
(1) DIALING AND THE DIALING DIRECTORY
(2) FOSSIL DRIVERS, ISDN, HAYES ESP SERIAL BOARD
(3) FILE TRANSFER RECOVERY
(4) FASTER METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING BINARY FILES
(5) OTHER FILE TRANSFER IMPROVEMENTS
(6) IMPROVED CLIENT/SERVER OPERATION
(7) IBM MAINFRAME FILE TRANSFER
(8) NEW CHARACTER-SET SUPPORT
(9) CONNECT-MODE STATUS LINE AND POPUP HELP SCREENS
(10) THE APC ESCAPE SEQUENCE
(11) VT320 TERMINAL EMULATION
(12) ANSI TERMINAL EMULATION
(13) DATA GENERAL DASHER TERMINAL EMULATION
(14) WYSE-50 TERMINAL EMULATION
(15) COMPOSE-KEY SEQUENCES FOR ENTERING SPECIAL CHARACTERS
(16) WIDE SCREENS AND HORIZONTAL SCROLLING
(17) EXPANDED MEMORY
(18) GRAPHICS TERMINAL EMULATION
(19) OTHER TERMINAL EMULATION CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS
(20) SCRIPT PROGRAMMING CHANGES AND ADDITIONS
(22) GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
(22) COMMAND PARSER
(23) TCP/IP NETWORKING
(24) MULTIPLE TCP/IP SESSIONS -- KERMIT'S TCP/IP SESSION MANAGER
(25) SMALL MEMORY-SIZE EDITIONS
(26) BBS OPERATORS GUIDE
APPENDIX I: NEW TERMINAL EMULATIONS - TECHNICAL SUMMARY
------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
MS-DOS Kermit 3.11 was released in September 1991, and is fully described in
Chapter 14 of "Using MS-DOS Kermit", second edition. Subsequent releases add
a few features not described in the book. This file describes these new
features.
MS-DOS Kermit 3.12 was released in September, 1992:
. Networking and communications improvements, including ODI support.
. Japanese Kanji text-file transfer translation.
. Locking-shift protocol for efficient 8-bit file transfer on 7-bit links.
. A new method for transferring files with IBM mainframes.
. Ability to SET PORT TCP/IP to non-TELNET ports.
MS-DOS Kermit 3.13, July 1993:
. A new faster method for transferring binary and precompressed files
. Larger packets and windows allowed, up to 9024 x 31.
. Switching among multiple simultaneous TCP/IP sessions
. Data General DASHER terminal emulation
. Graphics-mode support for 132-column operation on EGA & VGA video adapters
. Text-mode support for 132-column operation on ET4000 & other VESA adapters
. Horizontal scrolling of wide terminal screens
. Expanded-memory option for screen rollback and graphics image retention
. Hebrew character-set translation and Hebrew terminal emulation
. East European character-set translation
. Icelandic CP861 code page support
. Separate code page selection for terminal emulation and file transfer
. Compose-key sequences for entering accented characters
. New KERMIT PATH environment variable
. Support for Novell SLIP_PPP ODI driver and other networking improvements
. BOOTP improvements
. TELNET improvements, including option negotiation display
. DIAL-command support for additional modem types
MS-DOS Kermit 3.14, January 1995:
. ANSI terminal emulation
. Wyse-50 terminal emulation
. Data General DASHER and DEC VT terminal emulation improvements
. Kanji character-set translation during terminal emulation
. HP-Roman8 terminal character-set
. Control over timeslicing method in Windows, DesqView, OS/2, NT
. Control over automatic video-mode switching
. Selectable fore- and background colors for underline simulation
. Additional scan codes for Alt/Ctrl/Shift - SpaceBar/Esc combinations
. Revised printer support for better interoperation with Novell CAPTURE
. Additional control over TCP/IP and TELNET protocol features
. Debugging display of TELNET options negotiation
. Networking support for Telebit PPP
. TCP/IP fixes, speedups, and refinements
. Multiple TCP/IP sessions to the same host now allowed
. Support for Artisoft Int14 redirector
. Support for Meridian Technology SuperLAT network connections
. SET SPEED 28800
. Workarounds for buggy SMC FDC37C665 UART simulator on Pentium motherboards
. Support for Hayes ESP serial communications board in 16550A mode
. Support for Fossil Drivers
. User control over treatment of carrier signal on serial connections
. Binary-mode file transfer recovery
. Ability to send partial files manually
. Control of run-length encoding
. Improved client/server operation
. Prompt string value now evaluated each time prompt is issued
. ASK/ASKQ responses now taken literally
. New APC command sends APC strings
. Incoming APC strings ignored by default for safety
. Revised CONNECT-mode status line for additional information
. Separate CONNECT-mode help and one-character command menus
. New script programming commands
. Improved consistency of backslash-quoting in commands
. New built-in string, file, and numeric functions
. Additional built-in variables
. Revised command-line handling of substitution variables
. Transaction log of file transfers now records detailed rejection
reason if based on file attributes
. Available also in special reduced forms for limited memory
See the READ.ME file in the top-level directory of the Kermit diskette for
installation instructions and an overview of what's included on the disk.
------------------------------
(0) THE "KERMIT" ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE
The DOS environment variable KERMIT may be used for setting certain
parameters, even if Kermit doesn't read its initialization file.
Set this environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
SET KERMIT=text
<text> can be one or more MS-DOS Kermit startup parameters of the form
<name> <value>, separated by semicolons. Startup parameters include:
INPUT <number> (allocates storage for INPUT command buffer)
ROLLBACK <number> (allocates storage for <number> rollback screens)
WIDTH <number> (allocates sorage for given screen width, 80-207)
COMn <address> <irq> (sets COM1, COM2, COM3, or COM4 address and IRQ)
PATH <path> (where Kermit looks for TAKE files)
PATH and WIDTH are new to v3.13. WIDTH defines the width of the terminal-
screen rollback memory. If you want to roll back wide screens, you should
specify the width, e.g. 132. AUTOEXEC.BAT example:
SET KERMIT=ROLLBACK 50;WIDTH 132;PATH C:\KERMIT
PATH affects the init-file search, the TAKE command, and IF INPATH.
(1) DIALING AND THE DIALING DIRECTORY
MS-DOS Kermit includes flexible and extensible facilities for dialing
with most of today's popular modems.
(1.1) The Standard Dialing Method
If you installed Kermit from the distribution disk according to instructions,
you'll have the standard DIAL macro, defined in Kermit's initialization file,
MSKERMIT.INI, at your disposal. The DIAL macro:
. Uses your dialing directory if you have one.
. Uses a modem-specific script to configure and dial your modem.
. Redials several times automatically if the line is busy.
. Is entirely scripted, so you can change it if you want to.
To use the dial macro, simply type "dial" followed by the phone number at
the MS-Kermit> prompt, for example:
MS-Kermit> dial 9876543
or:
MS-Kermit> dial 1 800 987-6543
The DIAL macro uses two additional files: xxxxx.SCR, a script program for
dialing your modem ("xxxxx" is HAYES, T3000, ROLM, etc), and DIALUPS.TXT, your
dialing directory (optional).
(1.1.1) Telling Kermit Which Kind of Modem You Have
Kermit comes with dialing scripts lots of modems. Different modems have
different commands and capabilities, so each kind must be handled separately.
The scripted approach allows new modems to be added easily, without changing
the Kermit program itself. It also allows for bugs to be fixed, parameters
changed, behavior altered, etc, without changing the program. Modem scripts
are ordinary text files in Kermit's MODEMS subdirectory that anybody can type,
print, or edit. The script language, and modem scripts in particular, are
described in detail in "Using MS-DOS Kermit".
Unless you say otherwise, Kermit assumes you have a Hayes 2400 modem and uses
MODEMS\HAYES.SCR for dialing.
How to say otherwise? The modem script is chosen in any of the following ways
(using the Telebit T3000 modem as an example, which has a T3000.SCR file in
the KERMIT\MODEMS directory):
1. Set a DOS environment variable, MODEM, to be the name of your modem;
add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
SET MODEM=T3000
or give this command at the DOS prompt before starting Kermit.
2. Or use the following Kermit command:
DEFINE _MODEM T3000 ; Note the underscore!
3. Or, in v3.14 and later, tell Kermit to:
SET MODEM T3000 ; Note: no underscore, no "=" sign.
which is equivalent to "define _modem t3000".
Methods 2 and 3 are both regular Kermit commands. You can put them in your
MSCUSTOM.INI file if you want them in effect every time you start Kermit,
or you can type them at the MS-Kermit> prompt.
Each method has the same effect. It tells Kermit to look for a file called
T3000.SCR in Kermit's MODEMS subdirectory. You can substitute any string for
"T3000", as long as there is a corresponding .SCR file in the MODEMS
subdirectory. For example, SET MODEM PP14400 tells Kermit to look in its
MODEMS subdirectory for PP14400.SCR. See MODEMS\READ.ME for a list of the
dialing scripts that are included in the standard Kermit package and a full
description of how they work.
If you have a modem for which no suitable dialing script is provided, you can
write a new script program for dialing, modeled after one of the other dialing
scripts (see "Using MS-DOS Kermit") and put it in the MODEMS subdirectory, and
then tell Kermit about it using one of the three methods above. Note that
some dialing scripts might work with multiple brands of modems, perhaps less
than optimally. For example HAYES.SCR will probably work with any Hayes-
compatible modem; PP14400.SCR reportedly also works with Zoltrix modems, etc.
(1.1.2) Creating a Dialing Directory
Kermit's dialing directory lets you:
. Use names instead of phone numbers for dialing
. Choose a particular speed or parity automatically for each entry
For example, suppose you regularly make a modem call to XYZ Corporation
at 1 800 765-4321. Rather than type:
DIAL 18007654321
every time you want to make this call, you could type:
DIAL XYZ
Your dialing directory is a plain-text file in your Kermit directory (the same
directory as your MSKERMIT.INI file) called DIALUPS.TXT. A DIALUPS.TXT file
is already supplied on the Kermit diskette, which you can edit (using any text
editor, such as the DOS EDIT program). The file contains one line per entry:
name number speed parity comments
The "name" is the name you want to use for this entry in your DIAL commands.
"number" is the telephone number; "speed" is the dialing speed in bits per
second, "parity" is the parity to use (even, odd, mark, space, or none). The
name, number, speed, and parity are separated from each other by one or more
spaces. Any words after the parity are ignored, so you can use them for
comments. If trailing fields (speed, parity) are omitted, Kermit's current
values are used (but then you can't have a comment). If you want to tell
Kermit explicitly to use its current value for speed or parity, use an equal
sign (=). Examples:
xyz 18007654321
sprintnet 7654321 2400 mark
oofanet 6543210 1200 odd This entry has a comment.
tymnet 93,876-5432 2400 even You can put punctuation in the phone #.
hometone T5551212 1200 none T in number forces tone dialing
homepulse P5551212 1200 none P in number forces pulse dialing
anyspeed 999-9999 = none Use current speed, whatever it is.
anyparity 888-8888 9600 = Use current parity, whatever it is.
whocares 777-7777 = = Use current speed and parity.
defaults 987-6543
To use the dialing directory, just type DIAL followed by the name, spelled out
in full (case doesn't matter), for example:
MS-Kermit>dial xyz
If you type a name or number that is not in the directory, Kermit dials
exactly the characters you type, for example DIAL 5552370 dials the number
5552370. DIAL FRED (if FRED is not in the directory) tells Kermit to dial the
letters FRED, which won't accomplish anything useful with most modems (unless
the modem itself has an internal dialing directory).
IMPORTANT: Kermit assumes neither Tone nor Pulse dialing. Kermit's dialing
command for Hayes-like modems is ATD, not ATDT or ATDP because Tone dialing
is not available in many areas. If you want to force (say) Tone dialing,
include a "T" at the beginning of the phone number (e.g. "dial T76543231")
or configure your modem beforehand for Tone dialing.
To view your dialing directory, type LIST. To view particular entries in your
dialing directory, type LIST XXX, where XXX is a sequence of characters that
appears in the desired entries (usually the name):
MS-Kermit>list tymnet
tymnet 93,876-5432 2400 even You can put punctuation in the phone #.
The DIAL command assumes your dialing directory is stored on your PC as
DIALUPS.TXT in your Kermit directory, i.e. the same directory as your MS-DOS
Kermit initialization file. If you want to keep it someplace else or use some
other name, create a DOS environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
SET DIALFILE=C:\PHONES\MSKERMIT.KDD
or in your MSCUSTOM.INI file:
DEFINE _DIALFILE C:\PHONES\DIALING.DIR ; (Note underscore)
If you want to use the directory sometimes but not others, define a separate
macro for dialing without it, e.g.:
define call take C:\KERMIT\MODEMS\\\m(_modem).SCR
As of MS-DOS Kermit 3.14, dialing scripts are available for about 20 different
modems; many new ones were added in 3.13 and 3.14; see the READ.ME file in
MODEMS directory for details.
NOTE: Most of the dialing scripts for high-speed modems (V.32 and above)
ignore Kermit's current speed as well as any speeds given in your dialing
directory. Instead, Kermit uses a fixed high interface speed (usually 57600
bps) and configures the modem to negotiate the best connection speed and then
automatically buffer between the connection speed and the interface speed.
(1.2) The Default Dialing Method
As of version 3.14, even if you did not install Kermit according to
instructions, or if you did not start it with the standard initialization
file, you'll still have a simple DIAL capability. The new built-in dialing
method is used if you give a DIAL command, but no DIAL macro is defined. The
built-in method does the following:
. Gets and saves the SET CARRIER setting.
. Executes the SET CARRIER OFF command.
. Sends ATD, then the phone number, then carriage return to the modem.
. Waits up to 90 seconds for the CD signal to come on. If it comes on
at any time within 90 seconds, the DIAL command completes immediately
and sets a success code; otherwise (after 90 seconds, or if you
interrupt it with Ctrl-C), it completes with a failure code.
. Upon completion, it restores your previous SET CARRIER setting.
Thus, the default dialing method assumes a Hayes-like modem, but only to the
extent that it uses ATD as its dialing command. It does not change your
current speed, parity, flow control, or other parameters; it does not look for
a dialing directory, it does not attempt to reconfigure the modem, and it does
not rely on any responses from the modem, other than the CD signal coming on
when the connection is complete.
This dialing method is used whenever you give a DIAL command and no DIAL macro
is defined. This implies, by the way, that you can define your own DIAL
command to do anything you want, replacing the standard definition from the
MSKERMIT.INI file. As always, whenever you want to do override or remove any
definitions or settings that are made in MSKERMIT.INI, please do this in your
MSCUSTOM.INI file rather than by editing MSKERMIT.INI itself. For example:
define dial ; Remove DIAL macro definition, use built-in default DIAL.
define dial blah blah blah ... ; Replace standard DIAL definition
The internal default dialing macro is called __DIAL (the word "DIAL" preceded
by two underscores). Type "show macro __dial" to view its definition.
(1.3) Manual Dialing
Of course, Kermit also lets you dial "manually" in CONNECT mode. Simply
type CONNECT and then, in the terminal-emulation screen, type AT commands or
whatever commands are appropriate for your modem. If Kermit won't let you
CONNECT, then give a SET CARRIER OFF command first (SET CARRIER OFF means
Kermit does not care about the CD signal; SET CARRIER ON, which is NOT the
default, means Kermit requires carrier to communicate). Normally, the
modem does not present the CD signal if it doesn't have a connection.
And of course, you can also write your own script programs to dial the modem.
You don't have to use the ones that are supplied with Kermit.
(2) FOSSIL DRIVERS, ISDN, HAYES ESP SERIAL BOARD
(2.1) FOSSIL DRIVERS
MS-DOS Kermit supports Fossil serial port drivers through the SET PORT BIOSn
(n = 1-4) communications channel. The presumption is an external agent has
selected the speed (Fossil redefines some IBM PC slow speeds to be higher
speeds) and flow control. Kermit will not touch the serial port hardware if
the SET PORT BIOSn command is given before any command inquires about port
information. Thus a BBS may have a Fossil driver managing serial port
hardware and Kermit is a polite user of one port via Interrupt 14h.
A Fossil driver can also be used with the new (v3.14) SET PORT option:
SET PORT FOSSIL <1..99>
to select Fossil COM port 1 through 99, thus lifting the normal upper limit of
4 on the port number, and also enabling block reads and writes, which are more
efficient (particularly in multitasking environments) than BIOS single-
character I/O. Here again, speed and flow control must be set in the fossil
driver itself, and can't be set from Kermit. Using this method, it is not
possible to test whether a Fossil driver is really active. If a call fails in
a common way because no driver is present, Kermit declares the port to be
inoperative and quits the connection. Thus there is a user-assumed risk in
SET PORT FOSSIL, since we can't check first to be sure a proper driver is
present. If in doubt go back to SET PORT BIOSn which are normal, safe
(probably slower) BIOS serial port channels. Note: Kermit supports only a
single Fossil connection at time.
Another note: although Kermit supports the fossil driver specification, this
does not mean that we necessarily support particular fossil drivers, or can
provide help about them. Some fossil drivers might have bugs; these are the
responsibility of the fossil driver authors. One such bug, reportedly, is
that a certain fossil driver will stop working after its first connection has
been closed. The workaround is to fully reinitialize the driver by giving
Kermit another SET PORT FOSSIL n command.
Applications that use fossil drivers, such as BBS packages, differ in their
expectations about what "external protocols" (such as Kermit, when invoked
from another program) should do with the fossil driver; some expect the
external application to "deinitialize" the fossil driver (fossil function
05h), others expect it not to do so. MS-DOS Kermit will behave either way,
according to:
SET FOSSIL DISABLE-ON-CLOSE { ON, OFF }
When OFF (the default), Kermit does NOT deinitialize the fossil driver
upon exit. When ON, Kermit issues fossil function 05h to deinitialize
the fossil driver.
If you experience problems with your software after invoking Kermit on it
as an external protocol on a fossil port, then try changing this setting.
(2.2) ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) boards serve ISDN digital
telephones, which provide (among other things) 64Kbps data transmission. ISDN
boards are not serial boards, and therefore require special drivers. There is
a Common Application Programming Interface (CAPI) for ISDN boards, defined by
German Telecom and German ISDN manufacturers. CAPI drivers are supplied by
ISDN board manufacturers. MS-DOS Kermit 3.14 does not support CAPI directly,
but shims exist that allow Kermit to be used with ISDN anyway, by disguising
CAPI as the Fossil, Int 14, or Packet Driver interface, all of which are
supported by Kermit. Examples:
. cFos is a shareware fossil driver for CAPI, written by Martin Winkler &
Christoph Lueders of Bonn, Germany. It is available via anonymous ftp
from ftp.dfv.rwth-aachen.de:/pub/network/isdn/cfos, or by dialup to the
Zaphods BBS in Bonn: +49 228 9111041. It supports both the Fossil and
Int 14 interfaces, and presents ISDN controls in the form of Hayes-like
AT commands.
. PAPI is free software, GNU Public License, providing a SLIP-class packet
driver interface to a CAPI driver, written by Dietmar Friede, Friede
Consulting, Munich (Muenchen), German <capi@friede.de>. Available via
ftpmail to ftp.germany.eu.net (send email to archive-server@germany.eu.net
containing the word "help"), or by ftp directly from
ftp.dfv.rwth-aachen.de.
(2.3) HAYES ESP
The Hayes ESP serial board emulates 16550A UARTs, but with more buffering and
several specialized modes of operation. Kermit works fine with the ESP board
when the board is running in 16550A emulation mode, and when the Hayes Windows
ESP drivers are active. In this mode no drivers are needed at DOS level; just
run the Hayes DOSSETUP.EXE program to define serial port address and IRQ
values. If those port values differ from IBM conventions, or refer to COM3 or
COM4 then use SET COMn <port> <irq> (n=1-4) to inform Kermit of the board's
operating values. A dual-port ESP board has been tested successfully in DOS
and Windows, with and without the extra Windows drivers, with MS-DOS Kermit
3.13 and 3.14.
(3) FILE TRANSFER RECOVERY
Version 3.14 adds the ability to continue interrupted binary-mode file
transfers, and also allows you to "manually" recover from certain other types
of failures.
The new RESEND command lets you continue a file transfer from the point where
it was interrupted (for example, because of a telephone disconnection) without
having to retransmit the data that was already successfully transmitted.
Before seeing how to use this feature, let's look at the restrictions:
1. Recovery works only for binary-mode transfers between computers that have
a Kermit program that support this feature. It can not be used with
text-mode transfers. In other words, if you want to be able to use the
recovery feature, you must tell the file sender to:
SET FILE TYPE BINARY
2. The original transfer must have been done with SET FILE INCOMPLETE KEEP
in effect at the receiver, meaning that incompletely received files are
kept rather than discarded. In MS-DOS Kermit 3.14 and C-Kermit 5A(190),
this is the default, which is a change from previous releases.
3. Recovery only works between two Kermit programs that have this capability
and negotiate it successfully. As of this writing, these programs include
MS-DOS Kermit 3.14 and later for DOS and Windows and C-Kermit 5A(190) and
later for UNIX, VMS, OS/2, AOS/VS, Stratus VOS, and the Commodore Amiga.
4. You should never use SET FILE COLLISION RENAME if you intend to use the
recovery feature, since that will change the partially-transmitted file's
name and Kermit won't be able to locate it during recovery operations or,
worse, will append the incoming data to the wrong file.
To recover a failed upload: reestablish the connection, access the same
account and directory to which you were sending the file previously, start
Kermit there and put it in RECEIVE or SERVER mode. Then escape back to MS-DOS
Kermit and give it these commands:
SET FILE TYPE BINARY
RESEND filename [ as-name ]
The RESEND command should use exactly the same names as the SEND command that
was interrupted. When you RESEND a file, the receiving Kermit, upon getting
the filename, looks up the file and gets its size; it sends the size back to
the sending Kermit, and the sending Kermit resumes sending from that point;
the receiving Kermit appends incoming material to the partial file rather than
creating a new file.
You can recover a failed download in the same way. Just make sure you are
accessing the same directories as before, and the files have (or are being
sent with) the same names as before.
When a file is being resent, the file file receiver ignores its SET FILE
COLLISION setting; thus you need not change your FILE COLLISION setting when
RESENDing, and you will not find it altered afterwards either.
If the RESEND command is used, but a partial file of the same name does not
exist on the receiving end, RESEND behaves just like SEND -- it sends the
whole file. If the file on the receiving is the same size as the sender's
copy (or larger), RESEND does nothing; both files are left alone. These
properties let you resume the interrupted transfer of a group of files.
Suppose you had originally done this:
Receiver: Sender:
SET FILE INCOMPLETE KEEP SET FILE TYPE BINARY
RECEIVE (or SERVER) SEND *.ZIP
and the phone hung up in the middle of one of the ZIP files. Just reestablish
the connection, and recover this way:
Receiver: Sender:
SET FILE INCOMPLETE KEEP SET FILE TYPE BINARY
RECEIVE (or SERVER) RESEND *.ZIP
The files that were already sent are skipped, the file that was partially sent
is recovered, and the files that were not sent yet are sent.
For the recovery feature feature to be useful at all, the default for SET FILE
INCOMPLETE was changed from DISCARD to KEEP when the RESEND command was added
in version 3.14. Otherwise an interrupted transfer would leave no partial
file behind unless you had remembered to change the default. But now you have
to pay closer attention to Kermit's messages to know whether a transfer
failed; previously, if it failed, the file would not show up on the receiving
end at all; now, you'll get a partial file which could easily be mistaken for
a complete file unless you change the default back to DISCARD or read the
screen messages, or keep a transaction log.
Using RESEND, you can write a script program to really, REALLY send a file.
Here is a sample, in which we dial up a UNIX computer and send the MS-DOS
Kermit distribution ZIP file. This script program runs under C-Kermit 5A(190)
or later on OS/2 (and with a change in the dialout device name, under UNIX
too), and under MS-DOS Kermit 3.14 or later. If the transfer fails, we
reestablish the connection and restart the transfer from the point of failure,
as many times as it takes to get the file across.
---(cut here)---
ask \%u { username: }
askq \%p { \%u's password: }
; Settings for entire session.
;
define \%s 20 ; Seconds to pause between each try
define \%n 7654321 ; Phone number
def _modem hayes ; Modem type
set port com1 ; Communication port
set speed 19200 ; Speed
set file type binary ; File transfer mode must be binary
set input timeout quit ; This is just to keep the script program short...
set count 50 ; Try up to 50 times to send the file
goto nomsg ; Skip message the first time
:LOOP ; Come here to redial
hangup ; Give the phone a rest
echo CONNECTION BROKEN.
echo Pausing for \%s seconds...
sleep \%s
Echo redialing...
:NOMSG
dial \%n ; Dial the phone number
if fail goto AGAIN ; Keep trying...
output \13 ; System answered, send a carriage return
input 15 login: ; Get login prompt
output \%u\13 ; Send user ID
input 8 Password: ; Get password prompt
output \%p\13 ; Send password
input 60 {$ } ; Get system prompt
cd \budget ; CD to desired local source directory
output cd budget\13 ; and remote destination directory
input 8 {$ } ; Get system prompt
out kermit -r\13 ; kermit -r(eceive) on remote system
input 10 KERMIT READY ; Wait for READY message
pause 1 ; Plus a second for safety
resend fy9495.wks ; RESEND the file
if success goto done ; Success means file is completely transferred
:AGAIN
if count goto LOOP ; Otherwise, try again.
Stop 1 Too many tries. ; Too many tries, give up.
:DONE
echo File transferred OK ; Success, give message
output exit\13 ; Log out from remote computer
pause 5 ; Give it time...
hangup ; Hang up
stop 0 Script succeeded ; Finished, the end.
---(cut here)---
Manual Recovery: The PSEND Command
The PSEND ("partial send") command is like the SEND command, but it begins
sending from a specified position in the file:
PSEND <filename> <position> [ <as-name> ]
<filename> must refer to a single file, not a file group. <position> is the
byte position after which to begin sending; 0 means the beginning, 1000 means
the 1001st byte. As with the SEND command, the file is sent under its own
name unless you specify an "as-name". Unlike RESEND, PSEND can be used for
both text and binary transfers; no special capabilities are required of the
Kermit program on the receiving end. The PSEND command can be viewed as a
"do-it-yourself" recovery feature to be used when the other Kermit program
does not support recovery, or when a text file transfer was interrupted.
For example, suppose you were sending a file called OOFA when the connection
hung up, and that the receiving Kermit program had been instructed to keep
incompletely received files (SET FILE INCOMPLETE KEEP). If the transfer was
in binary mode, you could note the length of the partial file on the receiving
end; let's say it was 123456. Then tell the file receiver to:
SET FILE COLLISION APPEND
RECEIVE
and tell the sender to:
SET FILE TYPE BINARY
PSEND OOFA 123456
If the receiver does not support SET FILE COLLISION APPEND, you could just use
PSEND to create a new file:
SET FILE TYPE BINARY
PSEND OOFA 123456 OOFA.NEW
and then, after the transfer is complete, join the two pieces together on the
receiving end, using a system command or utility.
If the file transfer was in text mode, you would could use the same method IF
the other computer also used CRLF for line termination (like DOS does), but if
the other computer was (say) UNIX, which uses LF for line termination, the
sizes would be different, and you would have to figure out the correspondence
by inspection.
(4) FASTER METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING BINARY FILES
This feature (v3.13) lets you improve MS-DOS Kermit's file transfer
performance on connections you know are transparent to a certain set of
control characters. It lets you tell MS-DOS Kermit exactly which control
characters need to be prefixed and which ones do not when it is sending files.
SET CONTROL-CHARACTER UNPREFIXED { <code>..., ALL }
Says that you think it is safe to include the control character represented
by <code> without prefixing in packets which MS-DOS Kermit sends. The
<code> is the numeric ASCII code for a control character, 0-31, 127-159, or
255. For example, linefeed (code 10) is normally sent as two printable
characters, #J. SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED 10 lets linefeed be sent literally.
You can include the word ALL to unprefix all control characters, or you can
specify a list of one or more numeric values, separated by spaces.
Examples:
SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED 31 ; A single control character
SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED 2 4 5 18 20 ; A list of control characters
SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED ALL ; All control characters
If you can safely declare a lot of control characters to be UNPREFIXED, you
can send binary files (particularly precompressed ones) up to about 20-25
percent faster. If you include a control character in this category that
causes trouble, however, the transfer will fail, so experimentation is
necessary. NOTE: This command will not allow you to "unprefix" the
following characters if MS-DOS Kermit's current FLOW-CONTROL setting is
XON/XOFF: 17, 19, 145, 147; nor will it let you unprefix characters 127 or
255 on a TELNET (SET PORT TCP/IP) connection.
SET CONTROL-CHARACTER PREFIXED { <code>..., ALL }
Says that the given control character(s) must be prefixed in Kermit packets.
By default, all control characters, 0-31, 127-159, and 255, are prefixed.
NOTE: when sending files *to* MS-DOS Kermit, you must SET CONTROL PREFIXED
(at least) 1 129 (assuming the start-of-packet character is Ctrl-A).
SHOW CONTROL-PREFIXING
Displays the code values of the control characters that are currently
UNPREFIXED.
The purpose of the SET CONTROL UNPREFIX command is to UNILATERALLY configure
MS-DOS Kermit to skip prefixing and printable encoding of selected control
characters to achieve higher performance when sending files. This feature
takes advantage of the fact that most (not all) Kermit programs will accept
control characters within packet data-fields literally, provided they get
through at all, and provided they do not have a special meaning to the
receiving Kermit program (such as, in many cases, the packet-start and -end
characters).
There is no protocol negotiation between the two Kermit programs to determine
a "safe set" of control characters, and in fact any such negotiation would be
pointless because in most cases the two Kermit programs don't have all the
needed information. For example, there might be a terminal server or PAD
between them that is sensitive to a particular control character, even though
the two Kermit programs are not.
If you include in your SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED list one or more control
characters that are unsafe, any of several things might happen:
1. Transfer of any file containing these characters will fail.
2. The receiving Kermit program might be interrupted or halted.
3. Your connection might become hung, stuck, or broken. This includes the
situation where a control character causes a PAD, terminal server, or
similar device to change modes -- e.g. to go from online mode to command
mode.
The set of safe control characters depends on the two Kermit programs, their
settings, the host operating systems and their settings, the communication and
flow control methods, and all the devices, drivers, and protocols that lie
between the two Kermit programs. You must be willing to experiment in order
to achieve the optimal safe set.
Under ideal conditions (totally transparent and clean serial connection, no
Xon/Xoff, MS-DOS Kermit is not in SERVER mode, and C-Kermit has been told to
SET TRANSFER CANCELLATION OFF), the minimum set of control characters that
needs to be prefixed is:
SENDER RECEIVER PREFIXED CONTROLS
MS-DOS Kermit MS-DOS Kermit 1, 129
MS-DOS Kermit C-Kermit 0
C-Kermit MS-DOS Kermit 0, 1, 129
C-Kermit C-Kermit 0
For example, to set up C-Kermit to unprefix the minimum set of prefixed
control characters for sending files to MS-DOS Kermit, tell C-Kermit to:
SET FLOW NONE ; Or SET FLOW RTS/CTS
SET CONTROL UNPREFIX ALL
SET CONTROL PREFIX 1 129 ; C-Kermit always prefixes character 0
When the mininum set doesn't work, use the SET CONTROL PREFIX command to
prefix additional control characters. Some experimentation will be required.
Here is the list of control characters that are apt to cause trouble and
therefore likely candidates for prefixing:
set con p 0 ; Ctrl-@ = NUL, internal string terminator in C-Kermit.
; Also, often discarded as padding.
set con p 1 ; Ctrl-A = Packet-start character.
set con p 3 ; Ctrl-C = Packet breakout for remote-mode C-Kermit,
; packet breakout for server-mode MS-DOS Kermit,
; likely to cause interruptions on other systems.
set con p 13 ; Ctrl-M = Carriage return, always prefix on TELNET connections.
set con p 14 ; Ctrl-N = Shift Out
set con p 15 ; Ctrl-O = Shift In
set con p 16 ; Ctrl-P = Commonly-used X.25/X.3 PAD escape character
set con p 17 ; Ctrl-Q = XON, must be prefixed with Xon/Xoff flow control
set con p 19 ; Ctrl-S = XOFF, must be prefixed with Xon/Xoff flow control
set con p 27 ; Ctrl-[ = ESC, prefix if going through some kind of ANSI device
set con p 28 ; Ctrl-\ = CONNECT-mode escape for C-Kermit
set con p 29 ; Ctrl-] = CONNECT-mode escape for TELNET
set con p 30 ; Ctrl-^ = Cisco terminal server escape.
set con p 127 ; Ctrl-? = DEL, often discarded as padding.
; Also becomes TELNET IAC if parity bit is added.
set con p 128 ; = NUL + 128
set con p 129 ; = Ctrl-A + 128
set con p 131 ; = Ctrl-C + 128
set con p 141 ; = CR + 128
set con p 145 ; = XON + 128
set con p 147 ; = XOFF + 128
set con p 255 ; 255 = TELNET IAC, use P on TCP/IP TELNET connections
Notes:
. If MS-DOS Kermit has initiated a TCP/IP connection, prefixing of 255
(TELNET IAC) is forced automatically.
. Kermit will not let you unprefix XON (17), XOFF (19), XON+128 (145), or
XOFF+128 (147) if its FLOW-CONTROL setting is XON/XOFF. If you want to
unprefix these, make sure *both* Kermits have been told to SET FLOW NONE
(or RTS/CTS), and that XON/XOFF flow control is not in effect anywhere
along the communication path between the two Kermits.
. When sending files to C-Kermit 5A(189) and earlier, you should normally SET
CONTROL PREFIX 3 and SET CONTROL PREFIX 131, because C-Kermit (by default)
takes two Ctrl-C's (3 or 131) in a row as cancellation of packet-mode.
However, you can UNPREFIX these characters if you know your file does not
contain two Ctrl-C's in a row, or if you tell C-Kermit to SET TRANSFER
CANCELLATION OFF, or SET TRANSFER CANCELLATION ON <code> <number> when you
know that <number> copies of <code> do not occur in a row in the data.
In C-Kermit 5A(190) and later, this precaution should not be necessary
(see C-Kermit 5A(190) update documentation).
(5) OTHER FILE TRANSFER IMPROVEMENTS
. More SET FILE COLLISION options, that goven what happens when an incoming
file has the same name as an existing file:
APPEND
Append the incoming file to the existing file.
BACKUP (default)
Rename the EXISTING (old) file.
RENAME
Rename the incoming (new) file.
OVERWRITE
Overwrite the existing file.
DISCARD
Refuse to accept the incoming file.
UPDATE
Refuse to accept the incoming file if its creation date is earlier
than that of the existing file -- works only if the other Kermit
supplies this information.
. Bigger file transfer window sizes and packet buffers, depending on
available memory. Packets may be up to 9024 bytes in length, and the
window can contain up to 31 packets of the maximum length (32 in version
3.14). Use the regular commands to select these sizes: SET RECEIVE
PACKET-LENGTH and SET WINDOW. Also see the Memory Management section of
KERMIT.BWR (MSKERM.BWR).
. Locking shifts for efficient transfer of 8-bit text on 7-bit connections
(version 3.12, important for Cyrillic, Hebrew, and Japanese text):
SET TRANSFER LOCKING-SHIFT { OFF, ON, FORCED }
The default setting is ON, meaning that MS-DOS Kermit will attempt to
negotiate use of this feature with the other Kermit if the parity is not
NONE, in which case locking shifts will be used if the other Kermit
agrees (C-Kermit 5A and IBM Mainframe Kermit 4.2.4 will agree, others
will not). OFF means don't negotiate locking shifts, and FORCED means to
use them regardless of negotiations.
. Dynamically varying packet length to adapt automatically to changing noise
conditions. This happens automatically when MS-DOS Kermit is sending files.
No commands are needed. If packets are damaged by noise or timeouts occur,
MS-DOS Kermit cuts the packet length in half and then gradually grows it
back to the maximum negotiated size as (if) transmission errors subside.
. A file transfer "thermometer" (3.13), improved statistics reporting
including, for serial connections only, the efficiency of the transfer
expressed as a percent, the ratio of actual file characters transferred per
second to the connection speed.
SET REPEAT { COUNTS {ON, OFF}, PREFIX <character>}
Turns repeat-count prefixing (run-length encoding) on and off, and
lets you select the repeat-count prefix.
. Control over pathnames (3.14):
SET { SEND, RECEIVE } PATHNAMES { ON, OFF }
RECEIVE PATHNAMES OFF is useful on BBSs or other unattended systems to
restrict incoming files to the current directory. SEND is OFF and
RECEIVE is ON by default (except in minimal-size "Kermit Lite", which
is designed for use as an external Kermit protocol, where both are OFF)
by default. SEND PATHNAMES, even when ON, never includes the disk
letter. RECEIVE PATHNAMES ON expects DOS syntax; does not result in
creation of directories; OFF can be overridden by "RECEIVE filename".
. File Lists (3.14):
SEND @filename
If the SEND command is given an "indirect file name" (i.e. a filename
that starts with an at-sign (@)), it will read the name(s) of the
file(s) to send from the given file. This provides a convenient method
for sending an arbitrary group of files in a single operation. The
list of filenames can contain one filename per line, or it can contain
a comma-separated list of names, or any mixture of the two. Filenames
can contain disk letters, directory names, and DOS-format wildcards.
(6) IMPROVED CLIENT/SERVER OPERATION
"What Am I" protocol (3.14) allows the client in a Kermit client/server
relationship to announce the transfer mode (text or binary) and the filename
conversion method (converted, literal) to the server. In other words, in a
client/server connection, these items are now controlled by the CLIENT rather
than by the FILE SENDER, which is hopefully more what one would expect.
Various REMOTE SET commands are now effective simultaneously at the client
and the server, e.g.:
REMOTE SET FILE TYPE { TEXT, BINARY }
In version 3.14 and C-Kermit 5A(190), it is possible for the Kermit client
to set and query variables in the Kermit server:
REMOTE ASSIGN <variable name> <value>
The length of the name plus the value must be less than 510 bytes. Syntax
for the variable name is that of the other Kermit, and the variable is
\%letter or a macro name (a "user" class in remote query). The value is
interpreted fully by the local Kermit before transmission; protect remote
variable names with double backslashes. Example:
remote assign \%c sending time is \v(time) var time is \\v(time).
remote query user \%c
yields:
sending time is 09:05:00 var time is \v(time)
REMOTE QUERY {KERMIT, SYSTEM, USER} <name>
Asks the server to send the value of the given type of variable that has the
specified name. Responses are also recorded in \v(query) if they are short
enough to fit within one Kermit packet. Longer results will be displayed on
the screen but not in \v(query). KERMIT-class objects are \v(..) items, not
settable by the user. SYSTEM-class objects are in the operating system's
enviroment (PATH and similar). USER-class objects are variables and macros
creatable by the user, such as \%letter or a macro name.
ENABLE or DISABLE REMOTE ASSIGN and QUERY
Security controls for an MS-DOS Kermit server. Defaults are ENABLE.
The status of a file transfer was changed in v3.14 to report SUCCESS if a file
was rejected by the receiver because of date/time when SET FILE COLLISION
UPDATE is in effect. The rejection simply means the transmitted file is not
newer than the current file so no transfer is needed. A new bit-value, 256,
is introduced into the \v(status) variable if a file transfer fails because of
file attribute mismatches.
(7) IBM MAINFRAME FILE TRANSFER
"Doomsday Kermit" (DDK) techniques allow file transfer with IBM mainframes
through 3270 protocol converters that do NOT support transparent mode, to be
used in conjunction with IBM Mainframe Kermit's SET CONTROLLER FULLSCREEN
command on VM/CMS, MVS/TSO, or CICS. MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 or later and IBM
Mainframe Kermit 4.2.3 or later required. Commands:
SET PARITY EVEN ; Or whatever
SET FLOW XON/XOFF ; Or whatever
SET SEND START 62 ; Greater-than sign
SET RECEIVE START 62 ; Ditto
SET BLOCK BLANK-FREE-2 ; New block-check type
SET HANDSHAKE NONE
BLANK-FREE-2 is a new block-check type, exactly like type 2, except encoded
to never contains blanks. Give IBM Mainframe Kermit the following commands:
SET CONTROLLER FULL
SET SEND START 62
SET RECEIVE START 62
SET BLOCK BLANK-FREE-2
SET HANDSHAKE 0
Doomsday Kermit file transfers are not as reliable as regular Kermit protocol
transfers, and they are much slower. Use this method only as a last resort;
that is, only when you can't get a transparent-mode fullscreen connection or
a linemode connection to the mainframe.
(8) NEW CHARACTER-SET SUPPORT
(8.1) HP Roman8
The Hewlett Packard Roman8 character set is supported in version 3.14 as
a terminal character set.
(8.2) SET TERMINAL CODE-PAGE
A command is available in version 3.13 and later to tell MS-DOS Kermit what
your actual code page is, for purposes of character-set translation during
terminal emulation:
SET TERMINAL CODE-PAGE CPnnn
where nnn are digits. This command is necessary because most PCs fail to
report active code pages other than CP437 and CP850 correctly, and so Kermit
generally has no way to find out when you have some other code page loaded.
This command is distinct from SET FILE CHARACTER-SET, so you can select
translations for terminal emulation and file transfer separately if you want
to. MS-DOS Kermit knows about the following code pages:
Code Page File-Xfer Term-Emul Comments
CP437 Y Y Original PC, and usually hardware, code page
CP850 Y Y Multilingual West European code page
CP852** Y Y Multilingual East European code page
CP860 Y Y Portuguese code page
CP861** Y Y Icelandic code page
CP862** Y Y Hebrew code page
CP863 Y Y Canadian-French code page
CP865 Y Y Norwegian/Danish code page
CP866 Y N Cyrillic code page
Shift-JIS* Y* Y*** Japanese Kanji multibyte code page = CP982
* New to version 3.12
** New to version 3.13
*** New to version 3.14
Specific code pages are discussed in the following sections. Some of them
can use (or must use) fonts supplied in the PCFONTS directory of the Kermit
diskette. The macros that are supplied to work with these fonts assume a
screen size of 25x80. Other screen sizes are possible; please read the
file PCFONTS\READ.ME for further information.
(8.3) East European Character Sets
Roman character sets for East European languages (Czech, Polish, Hungarian,
Romanian, etc) (version 3.13). Commands:
SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET LATIN2 ; ISO 8859-2 Latin Alphabet 2
SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET LATIN2 ; ISO 8859-2 Latin Alphabet 2
SET TERMINAL CODE-PAGE CP852 ; Code page 852
SET FILE CHARACTER-SET CP852 ; Code page 852
MS-DOS 5.0 and later include the East European Code Page, CP852. To use it:
1. Add the following lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and then reboot:
C:\DOS\MODE CON: CP PREPARE=((850,,437,852) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI)
4. To load the East European code page, use this DOS command:
C:\DOS\MODE CON: CP SELECT=852
Or just use LOADFONT CP852.F16 in the Kermit diskette PCFONTS directory
(Kermit macro EFONT).
(8.4) The Icelandic Code Page
New Icelandic code page support (version 3.13). Commands:
SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET LATIN1 (or DEC-MCS, or whatever)
SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET LATIN1
SET TERMINAL CODE-PAGE CP861
SET FILE CHARACTER-SET CP861
Use MODE CON CP PREPARE, if necessary, to install this code page. Use MODE
CON CP SELECT=861 to load it. Or use LOADFONT CP861.F16 in the Kermit PCFONTS
directory (IFONT macro).
(8.5) Cyrillic
Cyrillic text-file transfer has been part of Kermit since version 3.11, and is
documented in "Using MS-DOS Kermit". For Cyrillic terminal emulation, please
refer to the READ.ME and other files in the CYRILLIC subdirectory of the
Kermit diskette, new to version 3.14.
(8.6) Japanese Kanji
MS-DOS Kermit supports conversion of multibyte Kanji character sets in both
file transfer and terminal emulation.
(8.6.1) Kanji File Transfer
The Japanese Kanji code page for PCs is CP982 (this is the FILE
CHARACTER-SET). The Kanji code on the wire (in the file transfer packets) is
Japanese Extended UNIX Code (EUC). For file transfer, the commands are:
SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET JAPANESE-EUC
SET FILE CHARACTER-SET SHIFT-JIS
(8.6.2) Kanji File Terminal Emulation
Special Japanese-model IBM PCs have Kanji fonts in firmware, allowing display
of Kanji characters in Japanese-DOS. It is also possible to display Kanji on
USA-model IBM PCs and compatibles with VGA adapters. In this case,
Japanese-DOS/V (not Japanese-DOS) must be used.
You can display Kanji even in English DOS/V if you have the Japanese font
(software) driver and Japanese (software) keyinput driver (you can even use
the 101 English keyboad). Japanese-DOS/V is a revolutionary operating system
that opens the Japanese IBM-PC market. Prior to DOS/V, Japanese customers had
to buy expensive special Kanji PC models that could not run English
applications. Japanese DOS/V consists of:
Baseline DOS/V
+ Japanese font driver
+ Japanese fonts
+ Japanese keyinput driver
+ Japanese dictionary
The Japanese font driver displays Japanese characters in VGA 640 x 480 graphic
mode, and sometimes it might conflict with English applications. However you
can easily switch back and forth because the baseline DOS/V is the same.
As of v3.14, terminal emulation works in Kanji mode on Japanese DOS/V
computers when CP982 is loaded and you choose a Japanese character set with
the following command:
SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET JIS-KANJI
JIS-KANJI should work for all host-based multibyte Kanji character sets; it is
the same as Japanese EUC, which is a superset of all the other Kanji sets,
such as JIS X 0208, DEC Kanji, and JIS7, and includes double-width JIS-ROMAN
in G0 and double-width JIS-KATAKANA in G2. NOTE: In JIS-KANJI, GR points to
G3 instead of G2 (as it does in the Japanese VT382 terminal).
For single-width, single-byte Roman and Katakana characters, use:
SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET { JIS-KATAKANA, JIS-ROMAN }
JIS-KATAKANA refers to the Katakana character set of JIS X 0201, and JIS-ROMAN
refers to the Roman character set of same standard, which is identical to
ASCII except in two positions. JIS-ROMAN and JIS-KATAKANA can be combined
into a single 8-bit character set as follows:
SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET JIS-ROMAN G0
SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET JIS-KATAKANA G1 (or G2 or G3)
Because the PC local Kanji-code is Shift-JIS (CP982), TRANSPARENT can be used
if the remote Kanji code is Shift-JIS.
When sending characters from the keyboard (or with the TRANSMIT command), you
must first turn off the status line, because this line is used for composing
Kanji characters:
SET MODE-LINE OFF
Then you must specify, in addition to the host character set, a shifting
method:
SET TERMINAL OUTPUT-SHIFT { EUC-KANJI, DEC-KANJI, JIS7-KANJI }
These work as follows:
EUC-Kanji
Shift-JIS Roman/ASCII -> US-ASCII/JIS-Roman (1 byte)
Shift-JIS Katakana -> SS2 + JIS X 0201 (in GR) (2 bytes)
Shift-JIS Kanji -> JIS X 0208 (in GR) (2 bytes)
DEC-Kanji
Shift-JIS Roman/ASCII -> 1 byte US-ASCII/JIS-Roman (1 byte)
Shift-JIS Katakana -> JIS X 0208 Katakana (in GR) (2 bytes)
Shift-JIS Kanji -> JIS X 0208 Kanji (in GR) (2 bytes)
JIS7-Kanji
This is not actually a shift-machanism, but rather changes the G0 character
set between ASCII/Roman and Kanji by using ISO-2022 designation sequences.
For Shift-JIS Katakana characters, Kermit maps to JIS X 0208 Katakana if you
set TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET to JIS-KANJI. On the other hand, if you SET
TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET to JIS-KATAKANA, the Shift-In/Shift-Out mechanism is
used.
For ASCII/Roman and Kanji character sets, there are several possibilities:
For Kanji
Final Character
4/0 (@) JIS C 6226 (1978) so-called JIS78 Kanji
4/2 (B) JIS X 0208 (1983) so-called JIS83 Kanji
For ASCII/Roman
Final Character
4/2 (B) US-ASCII
4/10 (J) JIS-Roman (JIS X 0201)
4/8 (H) This is wrong but still used in same cases, perhaps
due to a misprint in JIS C 6228 (1975).
To choose one of the combinations, you can specify one of the following with
SET TERMINAL OUTPUT-SHIFT JIS7-KANJI command:
Kanji desig. ASCII/Roman desig.
JIS83-US <ESC> $ B <ESC> ( B
JIS83-Roman <ESC> $ B <ESC> ( J
JIS83-75Roman <ESC> $ B <ESC> ( H
JIS78-US <ESC> $ @ <ESC> ( B
JIS78-Roman <ESC> $ @ <ESC> ( J
JIS78-75Roman <ESC> $ @ <ESC> ( H
For example, if your host uses JIS78-75Roman combination, use the following
command:
SET TERMINAL OUTPUT-SHIFT JIS7-KANJI JIS78-75ROMAN
(8.7) Hebrew File Transfer and Terminal Emulation
Hebrew terminal emulation and file transfer were added in version 3.13.
Commands:
SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET HEBREW
SET FILE CHARACTER-SET CP862
SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET { HEBREW-ISO, HEBREW-7 }
SET TERMINAL DIRECTION { RIGHT-TO-LEFT, LEFT-TO-RIGHT }
SET TERMINAL CODE-PAGE CP862
Version 3.14 adds a complete Hebrew support package -- keyboard mappings,
fonts, special documentation, and so on. See the HEBREW.DOC in the HEBREW
directory for details.
(8.8) Character-set Translation Goal Selection
SET TRANSFER TRANSLATION { READABLE, INVERTIBLE }
Default is READABLE. INVERTIBLE attempts to use code points as much in
common between the transfer and file character sets as possible, with the
transfer character set having priority. Thus INVERTIBLE can create code
points which do not display correctly on the destination machine but yield
the closest match when a file is sent back to the originator.
(8.9) Terminal-to-Host Keyboard Character Shifting
SET TERMINAL OUTPUT-SHIFT { NONE, AUTOMATIC, SI/SO, SS2, SS3, JIS7, EUC }
Allows you to type 8-bit characters on a 7-bit terminal connection.
MS-DOS Kermit supplies the selected type of shifting:
NONE - (Default) No shifting
SI/SO - Shift-In Shift-Out around each 8-bit character (GR = G1)
SS2 - Single-Shift 2 before each 8-bit character (GR = G2)
SS3 - Single-Shift 3 before each 8-bit character (GR = G3)
AUTO - Shift type depends on current character set GR assignment
JIS7 - For sending JIS7-coded Kanji
EUC - For sending EUC-coded Kanji
(8.10) CHINESE
There is nothing new here except for this explanation, courtesy of Ching Mo
Chang of Washington State University.
MS-DOS Kermit may be used on regular IBM PCs and compatibles equipped with
regular USA keyboard and VGA video adapter, running at least the following
Chinese versions of DOS (both of which are available via anonymous ftp as
indicated):
. KCDOS - Big5 (ROC) encoding. Host cnd.org, /pub/software/dos/chinese-sys.
. ZWDOS - GB 2312-80 (PRC) encoding. Host cnd.org, /pub/software/dos/ZWDOS.
The two encodings correspond to the two major encodings used on host computers
and services. So you would run the appropriate DOS version, and then simply
tell Kermit to:
set parity none
set terminal bytesize 8
set terminal character-set transparent
This allows Chinese characters to be viewed, typed, and transmitted during
terminal emulation. Input is according to the input method supplied in the
particular version of DOS.
(9) CONNECT-MODE STATUS LINE AND POPUP HELP SCREENS
In version 3.14, the status line was changed to say:
Esc:Alt-x help:Alt-h <host/port-info> bp1 echo:xxx <term> ....
This means you should use Alt-x to escape back to the prompt. The old method
(the CONNECT-mode escape character, normally Ctrl-], followed by the letter C)
still works too. Alt-h pops up a help screen listing the special characters.
WARNING: If you remap the special characters, the status line and
popup help screens will not know about it, so it is best not to do
this, particularly with \Kexit (Alt-x) and \Khelp (Alt-h).
In v3.14, if you type the escape character, a help screen pops up
automatically so you will always know what to do next.
In the status line, "bp1" replaces the "parity" designation, which took up too
much space. "b" is the character size, 7 or 8 bits (7 if Kermit's PARITY is
not NONE *or* if TERMINAL BYTESIZE is 7); "p" is the parity (n, e, o, m, s =
None, Even, Odd, Mark, or Space), and "1" means 1 stop bit (this can't be
changed, but we display it anyway). Example:
Esc:Alt-x help:Alt-h COM1 19200 7n1 echo:rem VT320 ....
The four dots represent the VT100 keyboard LEDs.
(10) THE APC ESCAPE SEQUENCE
...For Auto-Upload, Auto-Download, Auto-Anything-Else...
The handling of the CSI ? 34 h / l escape sequences by the VT220 and VT320
terminal emulators changed between versions 3.12 and 3.13 in order to support
Hebrew VT220/320/420 terminal emulation, and because DEC software such as
DECforms expects to use these sequences to control screen-writing direction.
Old way (described on pages 180-181 of "Using MS-DOS Kermit"): CSI ? 34 h / l
invoked the TERMINALR and TERMINALS macros, if you had them defined. This
required each Kermit user to define them, for example in their MSCUSTOM.INI
files, a big management problem for large user communities.
New way: CSI ? 34 h / l controls screen-writing direction, left-to-right or
right-to-left (for Hebrew and Arabic), as it does on real Hebrew-model VT
terminals.
To replace the TERMINALR/TERMINALS function, MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 and later
support the Application Program Command (APC) escape sequence, which is
accepted by Kermit's VT emulators, VT100 and above:
APC <string> ST
In the 7-bit environment, APC is ESC _ and ST (string terminator) is ESC \.
In the 8-bit environment, APC is decimal 159 and ST is 156 decimal. The
<string> can be any MS-DOS Kermit command or list of commands, separated by
commas, and can be up to 1024 bytes in length. Upon receipt of this escape
sequence, MS-DOS Kermit executes the command(s) in the string and then
automatically resumes CONNECT mode.
NOTE: In this respect, APC differs from the old TERMINALR/TERMINALS
mechanism, which did NOT automatically re-enter CONNECT mode. Thus, if
you are recycling your TERMINALR/TERMINALS macros for APC use, be sure
to remove the ", connect" from the end of their definitions, or else you
will have to escape back twice the next time you want the MS-Kermit> prompt.
For safety, the APC mechanism is disabled unless you say otherwise. This
is controlled by the command:
SET TERMINAL APC { ON, OFF, UNCHECKED }
OFF (the default) means Kermit will not execute any commands and will ignore
APCs. ON means that Kermit will execute only commands that are relatively
safe. UNCHECKED means Kermit will execute ANY commands sent via APC,
including commands that might delete your files, etc. UNCHECKED is required
for RUN, i.e. to run DOS commands or external programs. Use UNCHECKED at your
own risk.
APC is much more flexible than the old TERMINALS/TERMINALR mechanism, and can
be used for any purpose at all. For example, it can be used to configure
MS-DOS Kermit for use with a particular host or application by sending the
appropriate list of SET commands: communication parameters like parity,
protocol parameters like packet-length and window size, key mappings, etc.
It can also be used to initiate file transfers automatically from the host
without having to escape back to MS-DOS Kermit. Here's an example you can use
with C-Kermit 5A. In your C-Kermit 5A customization file (.mykermrc or
CKERMOD.INI), add commands like this:
define autosend set delay 0, apc receive, send \%1 \%2, statistics
define autoreceive apc {send \%1 \%2}, receive, statistics
The APC command is new to C-Kermit 5A(189); if you have an earlier release of
C-Kermit you can define APC as a macro:
define apc output \27_\%1\27\92
You can set up similar procedures with IBM mainframe Kermit, e.g. in VM/CMS by
stacking commands and using XECHO to emit the escape sequences.
You can expand these commands to handle text and binary mode if you want to:
; Text transfers
define tsend set del 0, set file type text, apc receive, send \%1, stat
define treceive apc {set fil typ text, send \%1 \%2}, stat
;
; Binary transfers
define bsend set del 0, set file type binary, apc receive, send \%1, stat
define breceive apc {set fil typ binary, send \%1 \%2}, stat
Use your imagination, the possibilities are endless!
(11) VT320 TERMINAL EMULATION
The following features added in v3.14:
Select character attribute ; CSI Ps " q
Ps - 0 or 2, erasable.
PS - 1, not erasable.
Selective erase in display ; CSI ? Ps J
Ps - 0, cursor to end (default).
Ps - 1, beginning to cursor.
Ps - 2, complete display.
Selective erase in line ; CSI ? Ps K
Ps - 0, cursor to end (default).
Ps - 1, beginning to cursor.
(12) ANSI TERMINAL EMULATION
"ANSI" terminal emulation, useful primarily for accessing BBSs, is available
as of version 3.14 via the command:
SET TERMINAL TYPE ANSI
ANSI emulation is similar to VT100 emulation, but with host-controlled colors
and using 8-bit IBM code-page 437 characters for line and box drawing, plus
some unique escape sequences for cursor save/restore, and different
interpretation of several other escape sequences used by the VT100.
Terminal screen colors are automatically set to black on white, TERMINAL
BYTESIZE is automatically set to 8, TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET is forced to
TRANSPARENT, and your code page is set to CP437 (provided you have CP437
prepared; otherwise your code page is not changed).
Kermit's ANSI emulation does nothing special with the keys; in particular,
there is no attempt at "PCTERM" keyboard handling, in which unique key-down
and key-up sequences are transmitted separately for every single IBM key
(including Shift, Alt, etc), apparently needed for the SCO UNIX console
terminal (also called "DOORWAY mode)", but evidently not needed for BBS's.
There is also no support for so-called ANSI music.
If you SET TERMINAL TYPE anything-but-ANSI after having SET TERMINAL TYPE
ANSI, your previous code page, TERMINAL BYTESIZE, COLOR, and CHARACTER-SET are
restored.
Hint: Some BBS's send a "cursor position report request" when you log in,
ESC [ 6 n. When writing login scripts for BBS's, you should account for
this. For example:
input 10 \27[6n ; Cursor position report request
if success output \27[24;1R ; Cursor position report
(13) DATA GENERAL DASHER TERMINAL EMULATION
MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 added built-in emulation of the Data General DASHER D463
(monochrome) and D470 (color) text/graphics terminals:
SET TERMINAL TYPE { D463, D470 }
Because DASHER escape sequences can include XON and XOFF characters, you must
also tell MS-DOS Kermit not to use regular bidirectional Xon/Xoff flow control
during DASHER terminal emulation. Instead, on network connections, SET FLOW
NONE; on serial connections, SET FLOW RTS/CTS if available, or else use
unidirectional Xon/Xoff with the new command:
SET FLOW OUTGOING-XON/XOFF
For using Western European languages on a Data General host:
SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET DG-INTERNATIONAL
DG function and special keys are supported via new keyboard verbs, which can
be assigned as desired with SET KEY: \KdgF1..F15, \KdgC1..C4, arrow keys,
Home, \KdgPoint, \KdgSPCL, \KdgNC. These verbs are not assigned
automatically, you must assign them yourself. Here, for example, is a sample
macro that assigns the DG F1-F12 keys to the PC's F1-F12 keys:
define dasher set key cle,set flow outgoing-xon/xoff,set term type d463,-
set ke \315 \kdgf1,set ke \316 \kdgf2,set ke \317 \kdgf3,-
set ke \318 \kdgf4,set ke \319 \kdgf5,set ke \320 \kdgf6,-
set ke \321 \kdgf7,set ke \322 \kdgf8,set ke \323 \kdgf9,-
set ke \324 \kdgf10,set ke \389 \kdgf11,set ke \390 \kdgf12
Verbs \KdgSF1 thru \KdgSF15, for the shifted DASHER function keys, were added
in v3.14.
Arrow-key codes (\Klfarr, etc) are adjusted automatically according to the
terminal type (VT52/Heath, VT100/102, VT220/320, Data General, or Wyse).
For SPCL key operation, see the Compose Key section below.
A comprehensive set of DG DASHER key assignments is given in the DASHER.INI
(MSIDGK.INI) file, supplied by Data General Corporation. This mapping follows
that used in DG's CEO Connection product.
Compressed text (see section 16 below) is supported in either text or graphics
mode, depending on your video adapter and preferences; in graphics mode,
regular and compressed text can be mixed on the same screen. Full-color DG
graphics are also supported including polygon fill, and the mouse (Microsoft
or compatible) is supported for CEO Drawing Board and other graphics
applications; mouse movements control the crosshair cursor and the left mouse
button sends \KdgF1.
The DG International Character Set (DGI) is supported during terminal
emulation, with conversion to CP437 if CP437 is active, otherwise to CP850.
CP850 is recommended, since it is the closest match to DGI. Other code pages
are not supported in DG terminal emulation, nor are Hebrew, Latin/2, and Kanji
terminal emulation. Also not supported for DG terminal emulation:
downloadable fonts/character-sets; retention of graphics screens after
escaping back or switching to text mode; compressed fonts for monochrome, CGA,
or Hercules video adapters.
Technical details of DG terminal emulation are listed in Appendix I.
(14) WYSE-50 TERMINAL EMULATION
MS-DOS Kermit 3.14 adds built-in emulation of the Wyse-50 text terminal. This
emulation is about the same as Wyse-60 in "Wyse mode", since the Wyse-60 is
essentially a Wyse-50 with additional emulations added. To emulate a Wyse-50:
SET TERMINAL TYPE WYSE50
Wyse function keys are supported via the keyboard verbs \KwyseFn (n = 1
through 16), and shifted Wyse functions keys via \KwyseSFn. The regular
\KxxArr verbs (xx = Up, Dn, Lf, Rt) automatically switch to Wyse mode in Wyse
emulation.
Restrictions include:
. No function key labels, nor local or host message fields.
. No erasing with the NUL character; space is used in all cases.
. Video attribute Blank is ignored.
. Split screens are ignored because insufficent information is available.
. Local printing is severely curtailed because much makes little sense to
DOS systems.
. No block mode nor host controllable duplex.
. No local editing.
. No host control of the keyboard.
. No host-initiated transmission of screen contents or fields.
. No host-controlled monitor mode (use Kermit's instead).
Enhancements:
. Transparent printing a`la the Wyse 60 and 50+ terminals
Technical details of Wyse terminal emulation are listed in Appendix I.
(15) COMPOSE-KEY SEQUENCES FOR ENTERING SPECIAL CHARACTERS
Special characters (accented letters, etc) may be entered in the normal ways
described in "Using MS-DOS Kermit", second edition, Chapter 13, and, starting
in version 3.13, as compose-key sequences via two new compose-key verbs:
\Kcompose ; DEC Compose key
\KdgSPCL ; Data General SPCL ("special") key
These two verbs are identical, and are assigned to Alt-c by default. To enter
a special character, press this key followed by two more keys. For example,
you can enter A-acute like this:
Alt-c ' A
That is, press Alt-c (or other key or key combination you have assigned
\Kcompose or \KdgSPCL to), then acute accent (apostrophe), then capital A.
In general, compose-key combinations are intuitive: letter+grave accent,
letter+acute accent (apostrophe), letter+doublequote (for umlaut or
diaeresis), letter+asterisk (ring above), etc; complete listing below.
When you press the compose key, the letter C appears at the right of the
CONNECT-mode status line and remains there until you type the next two keys.
If the two keys form a valid compose sequence, the corresponding character is
sent to the host. If not, Kermit beeps. In both cases, the C disappears from
the status line at the end of the compose sequence. To cancel a compose
sequence in progress, just type one or two Ctrl-C characters (or any two
characters that are not a legal compose sequence).
Compose sequences are available only for those 8-bit Latin1-class (i.e.
Western European) terminal character-sets that are valid for Kermit's current
terminal emulation:
Terminal Type: Character Sets:
VT220 or 320 LATIN1, DEC-MCS
D463 or D470 LATIN1, DG-INTERNATIONAL
Compose sequences are entirely independent of your PC's current code page.
MS-DOS Kermit's compose-key sequences are:
Case and order insensitive:
Input pair DG Int Latin1 Graphic
++ 23h n/a #
AA 40h n/a @
(( 5Bh n/a [
// or /< 5Ch n/a \
)) 5Dh n/a ]
^<space> 7Eh n/a ^
(- 7Bh n/a {
/^ 7Ch n/a |
)- 7Dh n/a }
<< B1h ABh << (Left guillemot)
0^ or *<space> BCh B0h Degree, ring above
+- B6h B1h +-
>> B0h BBh >> (Right guillemot)
SS FCh DFh German double s (Ess-Zet)
/U A3h B5h Greek mu
2^ A4h B2h 2 superscript
3^ A5h B3h 3 superscript
C/ or C| A7h A2h Cent sign
L- or L= A8h A3h Pound Sterling
Y- or Y= B5h A5h Yen sign
SO or S! or S0 BBh A7h Paragraph sign
XO or X0 A6h A5h Currency sign
A- A9h A4h Feminine ordinal
CO or C0 ADh A9h Copyright sign
PP or P! B2h B6h Pilcrow sign
.^ B9h B7h Middle dot
O- AAh BAh Masculine ordinal
12 A2h BDh Fraction one-half
!! ABh A1h Inverted exclamation
?? ACh BFh Inverted query mark
T- AFh n/a Not equals sign
TM B3h AEh Trademark sign
FF B4h n/a Florin sign (DGI only)
<= B7h n/a Less than or equals sign (DGI only)
>= B8h n/a Greater than or equals sign (DGI only)
,- A1h ACh Not sign
"" BDh A8h Diaeresis
'' BEh B4h Accent acute
RO AEh AEh Registered sign
|| n/a A6h Vertical broken bar
-- n/a ADh Soft hyphen
-^ n/a AFh Macron
,, n/a B8h Cedilla
34 n/a BEh Fraction three-fourths
XX n/a D7h Multiplication sign
-: n/a F7h Division sign
1^ n/a B9h Superscript 1
14 n/a BCh Fraction one-fourth
Case and order sensitive:
Input pair DG Int Latin1 Graphic
EO D7h n/a OE digraph
AE C6h C6h AE digraph
ae E6h E6h ae digraph
,C C7h C7h Cedilla
,c E7h E7h cedilla
/O D6h D8h O oblique stroke
/o F6h F8h o oblique stroke
HT n/a DEh Icelandic Thorn (yes, HT, not TH)
ht n/a FEh Icelandic thorn (ht, not th)
-D n/a D0h Icelandic Eth
-d n/a F0h Icelandic eth
Case sensitive, order insensitive:
Input pair DG Int Latin1 Graphic
'A C0h C1h A-acute
'a E0h E1h a-acute
`A C1h C0h A-grave
`a E1h E0h a-grave
^A C2h C2h A-circumflex
^a E2h E2h a-circumflex
"A C3h C4h A-diaeresis
"a E3h E4h a-diaeresis
~A C4h C3h A-tilde
~a E4h E3h a-tilde
*A C5h C5h A-ring
*a E5h E5h a-ring
'E C8h C9h E-acute
'e E8h E9h e-acute
`E C9h C8h E-grave
`e E9h E8h e-grave
^E CAh CAh E-circumflex
^e EAh EAh e-circumflex
"E CBh CBh E-diaeresis
"e EBh EBh e-diaeresis
'I CCh CDh I-acute
'i ECh EDh i-acute
`I CDh CCh I-grave
`i EDh ECh i-grave
^I CEh CEh I-circumflex
^i EEh EEh i-circumflex
"I CFh CFh I-diaeresis
"i EFh EFh i-diaeresis
~N D0h D1h N-tilde
~n F0h F1h n-tilde
'O D1h D3h O-acute
'o F1h F3h o-acute
`O D2h D2h O-grave
`o F2h F2h o-grave
^O D3h D4h O-circumflex
^o F3h F4h o-circumflex
"O D4h D6h O-diaeresis
"o F4h F6h o-diaeresis
~O D5h D5h O-tilde
~o F5h F5h o-tilde
'U D8h DAh U-acute
'u F8h FAh u-acute
`U D9h D9h U-grave
`u F9h F9h u-grave
^U DAh D8h U-circumflex
^u FAh F8h u-circumflex
"U DBh DCh U-diaeresis
"u FBh FCh u-diaeresis
"Y DDh n/a Y-diaeresis
"y FDh FFh y-diaeresis
'Y n/a DDh Y-acute
'y n/a FDh y-acute
(16) WIDE SCREENS AND HORIZONTAL SCROLLING
Kermit changes between 80 and 132 column mode at host request (CSI ? 3 h / l)
or when you give an explicit SET TERMINAL WIDTH { 80, 132 } command. Until
version 3.13, 132-column screens were possible only on PCs with video adapters
that have a 132-column text mode. Now MS-DOS Kermit also includes support for
DEC VT 132-column mode and Data General compressed text on EGA and VGA video
adapters that do not have a 132-column text mode, by entering graphics mode
and writing the characters dot by dot. 128 columns are displayed rather than
132 due to the PC's screen geometry but you can use MS-DOS Kermit's horizontal
scrolling feature to see the rightmost 4 columns. Wide screens are handled
according to the following commands:
SET TERMINAL VIDEO-CHANGE {ENABLED, DISABLED, DOS-ONLY}
Enable or disable the video screen from switching between 80 and 132
columns. By default, this is enabled in DOS only (DOS-ONLY). Video-mode
switching can wreak havoc on some (but not all) PCs when done in a Microsoft
Windows window and so by default video-mode switching is disabled in
Windows. Use ENABLED to enable it AT YOUR OWN RISK. If it works, Windows
will probably force Kermit into a fullscreen session. If it doesn't work,
then disable it again and use horizontal scrolling instead, or run Kermit
under plain DOS or in a fullscreen DOS window under Windows. v3.14.
SET TERMINAL COMPRESSED-TEXT {GRAPHICS, TEXT}
Tells whether Kermit should use text (fast) or graphics (slow) mode for
compressed text (wide screens). By default, it will use whichever method
it thinks is appropriate to your video adapter. Graphics is allowed
on EGA, VGA or higher video systems. v3.13.
Text mode will not actually display compressed text unless your video adapter
supports this function, but Kermit's virtual screen is adjusted to
the terminal-emulation width. For example, if your screen shows 80 characters
per line, but your terminal width is 132, then wrapping occurs at column 132
(perhaps off the screen) rather than column 80, and Kermit reports its screen
width as 132 (e.g. in response to a report-request escape sequence).
Of course, for 132-column operation, it is always better if your video adapter
supports 132 columns directly -- the video board does all the work, which is
much faster than writing screen dots in software! This works if Kermit knows
which kind of video adapter you have (Kermit determines this from a hopefully
unique "signature" in the video BIOS, provided it has not been hidden from
Kermit by Windows or your memory manager, see KERMIT.BWR). Here is a list of
such boards:
ATI EGA and VGA Wonder
AST, Dell, and other boards based on Western Digital VGA boards
AT&T / Olivetti
Everex Viewpoint EV-659, FVGA-673, EV-678, Micro Enhancer Deluxe
IBM SVGA (= Tseng ET4000, e.g. on PS/ValuePoint)
IBM XGA
Paradise AutoSwitch EGA Mono
Paradise Professional
Paradise VGA Plus 16 (ROM BIOS 003056-xxx firmware)
Paradise VGA Plus (ROM BIOS 003056-xxx firmware)
Paradise VGA Professional (ROM BIOS 003056-xxx firmware)
Paradise VGA1024
STB VGA/EM (Tseng TVGA)
STB VGA/EM Plus (Tseng 4000), VGA/EM-16, VGA/EM-16 Plus
Tseng Labs EVA board with 132-column kit installed
Tseng Labs UltraPAK mono/Hercules with 132 column modes
Tseng Labs ET4000 SVGA
VESA-compatible video BIOS
Video 7 Vega Deluxe with 132X25.COM driver installed and Video 7 VGA
If you have an adapter capable of 132-column operation, but Kermit does not
know how to activate it, set up your COLS132.BAT and COLS80.BAT files to do
the switching, as described in "Using MS-DOS Kermit".
For Data General DASHER terminal emulation, screen widths up to 207 are
supported for purposes of horizontal scrolling. DG terminal emulation is in
text mode by default. As soon as the host commands the terminal to display
compressed text, Kermit switches the entire screen to 132-column text mode if
your video adapter supports it, and otherwise switches to (slower) graphics
mode. As in VT terminal emulation, this behavior is controlled by the SET
TERMINAL COMPRESSED-TEXT command. Unlike VT terminals, DASHER terminals (and
MS-DOS Kermit, when in graphics mode) can display compressed and regular text
on the screen at the same time.
(16.1) WIDE SCREENS AND ROLLBACK
Normally, Kermit only keeps 80 columns in its screen-rollback memory. If you
want to be able to roll back screens of 132 (or, for DG terminal emulation, up
to 207) columns, you must set the KERMIT environment variable WIDTH to 132 (or
the desired number) in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, for example:
SET KERMIT=WIDTH 132
The KERMIT environment variable must contain a WIDTH definition before you
start MS-DOS Kermit in order for it to take effect. Wide rollback screens
need more memory than regular ones.
NOTE: The KERMIT=WIDTH value and SET TERMINAL WIDTH value are two different
things. The former controls memory allocation in the rollback buffer, the
latter controls the actual display width (virtual or real) of your screen.
(16.2) HORIZONTAL SCROLLING
If your logical screen width is greater than the physical screen width, MS-DOS
Kermit 3.13 lets you scroll the screen horizontally by pushing keys. The new
keyboard verbs are:
\Klfpage Scroll left one "page" (= 20 columns) (screen moves right)
\Klfone Scroll left one column
\Krtpage Scroll right one page (screen moves left)
\Krtone Scroll right one column
These verbs are unassigned by default. Here are the commands you could add to
your MSCUSTOM.INI file if you wanted to assign them to the gray (T-pad) arrow
keys on the extended (101) PC keyboard:
SET KEY \2459 \Krtpage ; Alt-Left arrow makes screen move left on page
SET KEY \5491 \Krtone ; Ctrl-Left arrow moves screen one column to left
SET KEY \2461 \Klfpage ; Alt-Right arrow makes screen move right one page
SET KEY \5492 \Klfone ; Ctrl-Right arrow moves screen one column right
When these keys are used in combination with the PageUp/Down keys, your screen
becomes a "virtual window" on your session, which you can move around in
arbitrary directions.
By analogy with SET TERMINAL ROLLBACK { ON, OFF }, which tells Kermit whether
to move a rolled-back screen automatically to the bottom when new characters
arrive from the host, the new command:
SET TERMINAL HORIZONTAL-SCROLL { AUTOMATIC, MANUAL }
tells Kermit whether to scroll horizontally when a character arrives that
would be displayed to the left or right of the visible screen. By default,
horizontal scrolling is MANUAL during VT terminal emulation, and AUTOMATIC
during DASHER emulation. MANUAL means you have to push keys to scroll the
screen horizontally, AUTOMATIC means that Kermit moves the screen to "catch"
incoming characters.
(17) EXPANDED MEMORY
Graphics screens and terminal rollback screens can now be kept in expanded
memory (EMS), and the size of the screen rollback buffer can selected and
changed at runtime. When sufficient expanded memory is available, you can
have up to 8000 rollback screens.
SET ROLLBACK <number>
Specifies the number of text screens to be kept in the rollback buffer.
Each 24x80 screen occupies about 4K; bigger screens need more space. Don't
confuse this command with SET TERMINAL ROLLBACK, which tells what to do when
characters arrive for the screen while it is rolled back.
SET TERMINAL EXPANDED-MEMORY { ON, OFF }
Whether to use expanded memory for retention of graphics screens and for
text terminal-emulation rollback screens. Default is OFF, use conventional
memory. ON leaves extra room in conventional memory for running other
programs, does not rely on your video adapter's memory for storing graphics
images, and allows more rollback screens, limited only by the size of your
PC's available physical memory. ON requires that an expanded memory
manager, such as EMM386 or QEMM, be used correctly to configure EMS memory.
See the Memory Management section of KERMIT.BWR (MSKERM.BWR) for further info.
(18) GRAPHICS TERMINAL EMULATION
SET TERMINAL GRAPHICS { ..., VESA, ...}
VESA now supported for graphics terminal emulation (Tektronix, Sixel, etc).
This is an 800x600 display on display adapters (e.g. SVGA) that support it.
This in comparison to VGA with 640x480 (v3.14).
TIFF dumps of graphics screens have improved coloration, especially among
black and shades of gray (v3.14).
SAS 6.10 and later on UNIX platforms (MIPS, Intel, and Alpha as of this
writing) includes new SAS/GRAPH drivers that take advantage of Kermit's
color Sixel graphics capabilities:
KRMTVGA
Requires VGA video adapter. You must tell Kermit to
SET TERM GRAPHICS VGA or SET TERM GRAPHICS VESA.
KRMTAUTO
Requires that you set your terminal graphics to auto-sensing
(SET TERM GRAPHICS AUTO, which is the default).
To view a graph from an interactive SAS/GRAPH session, use this syntax at the
beginning of your graphics program:
GOPTIONS DEVICE=KRMTVGA; -or- GOPTIONS DEVICE=KRMTAUTO;
Users running release 6.08 of SAS have access to a driver called
KERMIT that does Tektronix 4014 emulation. Prior to that release, they
can use this syntax in their GOPTIONS statement to get a monochrome
graph:
GOPTIONS DEVICE=TEK4014 GPROLOG='1b5b3f333868'x GEPILOG='1b5b3f33386c';
For more information on these device drivers, contact SAS Institute Technical
Support at (919)-677-8008 and ask for the GRAPHICS group.
(19) OTHER TERMINAL EMULATION CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS
SET TERMINAL ANSWERBACK { ON, OFF }
Whether Kermit should respond with string "MS-DOS-KERMIT nnn_ttt" if, during
terminal emulation, it receives Ctrl-E (ENQ) from host. Default is OFF, no
reply. As of v3.14 nnn = Kermit version number, ttt = terminal type, e.g.
"MS-DOS-KERMIT 314_VT320", terminated by a carriage return.
SET TERMINAL ANSWERBACK { MESSAGE [ text ] }
The text, if any, is appended to the standard answerback message, separated
by an underscore, e.g. "MS-DOS-KERMIT 314_VT320_123 Science Hall". The text
can be up to 30 characters long, and may contain \nnn codes, and is shown in
the SHOW TERMINAL display as "ab msg: text". It is not possible to replace
the standard message, only to append additional text to it. Thus, programs
sending ENQ to MS-DOS Kermit programs can depend on finding the program
name, version, and terminal type as the first three items. v3.14.
SET TERMINAL COLOR 20
If Kermit receives a "reset visual attributes" escape sequence (CSI 0 m)
from the host, this does not affect the screen coloration. However, some
applications expect it to restore the default fore- and background colors.
SET TERMINAL COLOR 20 tells Kermit to do this. v3.14.
SET TERMINAL ERASE {NORMAL-BACKGROUND, CURRENT-COLOR}
What Kermit should do about color when it receives a screen erasure command
from the host, such as CSI Pn J, CSI Pn K, etc. Default is NORMAL: fill the
erased area with the default (SET TERMINAL COLOR) background color.
CURRENT-COLOR means to use the background color most recently set by a
host-generated CSI 4x m escape sequence. v3.14.
SET TERMINAL RESET
Causes the terminal emulator to reset to startup defaults when CONNECT mode
is entered the next time. The dynamic reset is still keyboard verb \Kreset.
SET TERMINAL TIMESLICE-RELEASE {ENABLE, DISABLE}
ENABLE (default) lets Kermit release a CPU time slice to mulitasking systems
Windows, OS/2, NT, and DESQview when idle. Unfortunately, under at least
OS/2, a Packet Driver loaded into the same DOS box may not receive enough
CPU cycles to work effectively unless we disable timeslice-release.
Enabling frees CPU cycles for other tasks; disabling may improve performance
of Kermit and related comms drivers. The timeslice release mechanism is
active only while in CONNECT mode; the operating system's normal scheduler
takes care of matters while at the Kermit prompt.
SET TERMINAL UNDERSCORE <fg-color> <bg-color>
Lets you select the fore- and background colors for underscore simulation
on color monitors. Syntax is the same as SET TERM COLOR, 3x and 4x numbers.
Downloadable DEC function keys now have their own \Kverbs, \KudkF6..F20;
unassigned by default.
SET KEY now recognizes separate scan codes for the Esc, Space, and Enter keys
when combined with Ctrl, Shift, and Alt keys:
Unmodified Ctrl Shift Alt C-S C-A S-A C-S-A
Space 313 1337 825 2361 1849 3385 2873 3897
Enter 284 1308 796 2332 1820 3356 2844 3868
Esc 257 1281 769 2305 1793 3329 2817 3841
Now you can make separate SET KEY assignments to each combination of Space,
Enter, and Esc with the Alt, Shift, and Ctrl keys.
(20) SCRIPT PROGRAMMING CHANGES AND ADDITIONS
\\ quoting now works. Also \; etc. Semicolons not preceeded by whitespace
and not at the beginning of a line are now considered to be part of the text.
All-new string, numeric, and file functions:
\Fcharacter(number) The character whose numeric value is given
\Fcode(character) The numeric code for the character
\Fcontents(variable) The contents of the variable (variable name is literal)
\Fdate(filename) The creation date of the given file
\Fdefinition(macro) The literal definition of the given macro
\Ffiles(filespec) The number of files that match the filespec
\Findex(s1,s2,p) The position of string s1 in s2 starting at position p
\Flength(string) The length of the given string
\Fliteral(string) The string, literally, unevaluated
\Flower(string) The string with uppercase letters changed to lowercase
\Flpad(string,len,char) The string left padded to given length with char
\Fmaximum(n1,n2) The maximum of the two numbers, which may be variables
\Fminimum(n1,n2) The minimum of the two numbers, ditto
\Fnextfile() Next file from \Ffiles() list
\Frepeat(string,num) num repetitions of the string
\Freverse(string) The string, reversed left to right
\Freplace(s1,s2,s3) Replace all occurrences of s2 in the string s1 with s3
\Fright(string,num) The rightmost num characters of the string
\Frpad(string,len,char) The string right-padded to given length with char
\Fsize(file) The size (bytes) of the given file
\Fsubstr(string,p,len) Substring of string, starting at p, of given length
\Fupper(string) The string with lowercase letters changed to uppercase
Built-in variables (* are new to 3.14):
\v(argc) Number of arguments to current macro
*\v(carrier) SET CARRIER setting
*\v(charset) Code Page currently active, such as CP437
*\v(cmdfile) Name of currently executing command file, if any
*\v(console) ANSI if ANSI.SYS loaded, else NONE
\v(count) Current SET COUNT value
*\v(cmdlevel) Command level (for macros & TAKE files)
0 or 1 = top level, 2 = 2nd level, 3 = 3rd level, ...
*\v(cps) Characters per second, most recent file transfer
\v(date) Current date
*\v(inidir) Full pathname of MSKERMIT.INI's directory
\v(ndate) Current date, numeric format
\v(directory) Current directory
\v(dosversion) Numeric DOS version, e.g. 500 for 5.00
\v(errorlevel) ERRORLEVEL value
*\v(inpath) Drive:\path\ resulting from last IF INPATH command
*\v(input) INPUT buffer, first string ending in LF, CR, or FF
\v(keyboard) Keyboard type, e.g. 88, 101
\v(line) Synonym for \v(port)
*\v(monitor) Monitor type - COLOR, MONO
*\v(parity) Current SET PARITY setting
\v(platform) IBM-PC (or other)
\v(port) Current SET PORT setting
\v(program) MS-DOS_KERMIT
*\v(prompt) Current SET PROMPT setting
*\v(query) Result of last REMOTE QUERY command, if not a file
\v(session) Current TCP/IP session number (1 through 6)
*\v(tcpip_status) Status of current TCP/IP session
*\v(space) Free space on current disk, bytes
\v(speed) Current SET SPEED setting
*\v(startup) Disk:\Directory\ from which Kermit was started
\v(status) Status of most recent command, 0 = success
*\v(sysid) System identification in Kermit packets (U8)
\v(system) MS-DOS
\v(tcp_status) TCP connection status
\v(terminal) Current SET TERMINAL TYPE setting
\v(time) Current time
\v(ntime) Current time, numeric (seconds since midnight)
\v(version) MS-DOS Kermit numeric version number, e.g. 314
Note: \v(ndate) and \v(ntime) are suitable for construction of filenames.
New or changed commands:
ASK[Q] <variable-or-macro-name> prompt
Modified to retain the response string literally rather than expand
embedded substitution variables (version 3.14).
APC text
Sends text string (Kermit commands to be executed on the other end) with
prefix of ESC _ and postfix of ESC \ out the currently selected port. This
is an Applications Program Command to receptive VT200 and above terminal
emulators. C-Kermit 5A(190) and MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 and later understand APC
sequences while in CONNECT mode.
CD <anything>\
Now works in DOS 5.00 (previously DOS would object to the trailing
backslash). Numerically named directories, such as CD \123 should be denoted
with double slashes, as CD \\123, to prevent conversion to an internal
binary number during command reading. v3.14.
CHECK {TCP/IP, NETWORKS, GRAPHICS, TERMINALS}
Tests if these conditional-build items are present in MS-DOS Kermit. Reports
success or failure.
GETC <variable-or-macro-name> <prompt>
Like ASK, but reads a single character from the keyboard. v3.14.
END [ <number> [ <text> ] ]
Stops execution of the current macro or TAKE file and returns immediately to
the level which invoked it, i.e. the next higher level. <number> and <text>
are used as in the STOP command. v3.13. POP is a synonym for END.
IF DIRECTORY <string> <command>
Executes the <command> if <string> is the name of an existing directory.
v3.14.
IF INPATH filename
Saves the resulting path, if the file were found, in variable \v(inpath).
Command success or failure indication continues to work as before. v3.13.
IF NEWER <file1> <file2> <command>
Executes the <command> if <file1> is newer than <file2>. v3.14.
IF NUMERIC <string> <command>
Executes the <command> if <string> contains only digits. v3.14.
IF < <number> <number> <command>
IF = <number> <number> <command>
IF > <number> <number> <command>
IF COUNT, IF NUMERIC, IF VERSION
Now all work with 32-bit numbers, v3.14.
IF [ NOT ] EXIST <filename>
Succeeds if the given file exists, fails otherwise.
IF [ NOT ] INPATH <filename>
Succeeds if the given file can be found by normal DOS search rules, i.e. if
it is in the current disk/directory, or in the DOS PATH, and if it succeeds,
sets \v(inpath) to the path where the file was found. v3.14.
INCREMENT <variable> [ <value> ]
Adds the <value>, which must be a positive number (or a variable that
evaluates to a positive number), to the value of the given variable. If the
<value> is not specified, then 1 is added. If the <variable> is not defined
or has a non numeric value, the command fails and the value of the variable
is not altered. As of v3.14, INCREMENT works with 32-bit numbers.
DECREMENT <variablename> [ <value> ]
Subtracts the <value>, which must be a positive number (or a variable that
evaluates to a positive number), from the value of the given variable. If
the <value> is not specified, then 1 is subtracted. If the <variable> is
not defined or has a non numeric value, the command fails and the value of
the variable is not altered. As of v3.14, works with 32-bit numbers.
MPAUSE <number>
Like PAUSE, but pauses for the given number of milliseconds. v3.14.
OUTPUT \L
Sends a Long BREAK (1.5 sec) (v3.13). OUTPUT \B continues to send a regular
BREAK (250 msec). On TELNET connections, both of these send a TELNET BREAK.
READ <variablename>
No longer processes the data it reads; it is stored literally in the
variable. v3.14.
SET TAKE { ERROR, ECHO } { ON, OFF }
SET MACRO ERROR { ON, OFF }
Separate control of echoing and error handling in macros and TAKE files.
ECHO ON means to echo commands as they are read from the file or macro
definition. ERROR ON means to exit from the command file or macro
definition if an error occurs; ERROR OFF means don't exit, continue
processing (e.g. let errors be handled by IF FAILURE / IF SUCCESS). v3.14.
SET MODEM [ <text> ]
Synonym for DEFINE _MODEM <text>. v3.14.
SET PROMPT <text>
<text> now evaluated each time prompt is printed.
So "SET PROMPT [\v(dir)] MS-Kermit>" always shows your current directory,
"SET PROMPT \v(time)>" shows the current time, etc. v3.14.
SLEEP { <number>, <hh:mm:ss> }
Like PAUSE, but does not sample the communications device. But it does
sample the keyboard (like PAUSE) and wakes up if a key is pressed. v3.14.
STOP [ <number> [ <text> ] ]
Stops execution of the current macro or TAKE file and returns immediately to
top command level. The <number> and <text> operands are new to v3.13.
<number> is a return code that can be tested by IF SUCCESS. It is also
assigned to \v(status). Text is an optional message to be printed.
Hidden script support commands, v3.14:
_ASSIGN and _DEFINE
These are the same as ASSIGN and DEFINE, except the destination macro name
is subject to expansion of embedded substitution variables, as in "_define
foo\%a this is a definition".
FORWARD label
Like GOTO except the label search starts at the current position and looks
only forward rather than from the beginning as GOTO does. Failures pop up
through the command stack, all searches are still only forward.
(21) GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
SET CARRIER { ON, OFF } specifies treatment of Carrier Detect signal:
OFF = ignore it.
ON = require it at all times except during DIAL macro execution.
SET STOP-BITS { 1, 2 }
Set serial port stop-bits to 1 (default) or 2. 2 is hardly ever needed.
v3.14.
SET EXIT WARNING { ON, OFF }
If you try to EXIT from Kermit while a connection (serial or network)
appears to be active, Kermit warns you and gives you a chance to change
your mind if SET EXIT WARNING is ON. If OFF, it just EXITs with no
questions asked (as in v3.13 and earlier). v3.14.
SET PORT SUPERLAT <nodename>
Support for Meridian Technology SuperLAT network interface. v3.14.
TEST COMx
Tests to see if COMx (x = 1..4) is present and usable. v3.14.
(22) COMMAND PARSER
Display of substitution variables and functions changed in v3.14. Now the
original typing (or TAKE file content) is displayed without showing the
replacement text. Character and word deletion thus operate on what is visible
rather than on the underlying contents. This simplifies the presentation and
makes it more intuitive. Context sensitive help, "?", extends to functions
and variables nested within functions and variables.
(23) TCP/IP NETWORKING
See the networks sections in KERMIT.HLP, KERMIT.BWR, and NETWORKS\SETUP.DOC
for additional information. New networking features since "Using MS-DOS
Kermit", second edition, was published include:
. Support for ODI, SLIP, and Novell SLIP_PPP drivers, support for
Telebit PPP drivers.
. Up to six simultaneous TCP/IP sessions.
. TCP/IP fixes, speedups, and refinements (packet fragment reassembly,
additional ICMP responses, user-selectable maximum segment size, tighter
round trip timing estimation, much higher long-distance throughput,
and ensuring the TCP PUSH bit is always set to help some older servers.)
New commands:
SET PORT BWTCP <ip-address> (v3.14)
Make a TCP/IP connection using the Beame & Whiteside TCP/IP protocol
stack.
SET TCP ADDRESS TELEBIT-PPP (v3.14)
Use Telebit's PPP ODI driver, and get my TCP address from there. Section
PROTOCOL KERMIT of Novell's NET.CFG can hold a line such as MYIP below
which will have the IP number filled in by the PPP driver:
Protocol KERMIT
bind telebit
MYIP 123.123.123.2 < MYIP word to match ODIPPP
< ODIPPP writes IP number
Link Driver ODIPPP
Frame PPP
Protocol IPX 0 PPP
Protocol IP 0800 PPP
Protocol ARP 0806 PPP
Protocol RARP 8035 PPP
IPCP DYNAMIC "PROTOCOL KERMIT: MYIP:" < matches spelling above
SET TCP/IP MSS <number> (v3.14)
Maximum TCP Segment Size, to override built-in defaults of 1046 bytes
local and 536 bytes if routed (plus 40 bytes TCP and IP headers). This
may be considered MTU (maximum transmission unit) but smarter because
TCP informs the other side. Maximum size is 1460 bytes (1500 byte pkt).
SET TCP/IP PACKET-DRIVER-INTERRUPT { <number>, ODI } (v3.12)
Normally Kermit searches from 0x60 to 0x7e for a packet driver. This
command allows you to (a) specify a particular interrupt, in case you
have more than one packet driver loaded, or (b) tell Kermit to skip the
packet-driver interrupt search and use the ODI interface. Note: the ODI
interface is used by default for TCP/IP connections if a packet driver
cannot be found but an ODI driver can be found.
. The ability to select a particular TCP port when making a connection:
SET PORT TCP/IP <ip-name-or-address> [ <tcp-port-number> ]
The default TCP port number is 23, which is the TELNET protocol socket.
You can specify any other port number except 25. Version 3.12.
. New TCP/IP server mode accepts incoming TCP/IP connections (v3.12):
SET PORT TCP/IP * [ <tcp-port-number> ]
If you specify asterisk (*) instead of an IP host name or address,
MS-DOS Kermit waits for an incoming connection on the specified TCP
port (23 by default). This connection is useful only when MS-DOS Kermit
is in SERVER mode or, for chatting, CONNECT mode. It does not give
clients a DOS command processor.
. RFC 1395 BOOTP compliance allows MS-DOS Kermit to receive its fully
qualified domain name from a BOOTP server. Also, MS-DOS Kermit's SHOW
COMMUNICATIONS command now displays the IP address of the BOOTP server
from which its TCP/IP parameters were received.
. New commands to govern TELNET protocol:
SET { TCP/IP == TELNET } (TCP/IP and TELNET are synonyms)
SET TELNET TERM-TYPE <text>
Normally, MS-DOS Kermit sends its actual terminal-emulation type when the
remote TELNET server asks for a terminal type report. But the remote
computer might not support Kermit's current terminal type, or might know
it by a different name. This command lets you specify a terminal-type
name for Kermit to send instead of the normal one.
SET TELNET NEWLINE-MODE { OFF, ON, RAW }
During terminal emulation on a TCP/IP connection, MS-DOS Kermit follows
the TELNET specification and transmits carriage and line feed (CRLF)
whenever you type carriage return (the Enter key). If the remote TELNET
server is confused by this, use SET TCP/IP NEWLINE-MODE OFF to make
Kermit send CR and NUL rather than CR and LF, or RAW to send CR "bare".
SET TELNET MODE { NVT-ASCII, BINARY }
NVT-ASCII is the normal TELNET mode; you may also select BINARY if
needed. Mode selection is effective only when starting a connection, and
can be overriden by TELNET negotiations.
SET TELNET DEBUG-OPTIONS { ON, OFF } = OFF
In v3.14 you can display TELNET option negotiations on the screen capture
them in screen dump or session log files, or print them, just like any
other CONNECT-mode screen text. DEBUG-OPTIONS is useful for debugging
misbehaving TELNET sessions. Refer to the TELNET RFCs, or a TCP/IP book,
for an explanation of what they mean.
. MS-DOS Kermit now replies to traceroute requests, handles ICMP redirects.
. TELNET window (i.e. screen) size (NAWS) negotiation.
When using Kermit's internal Telnet and the remote host has agreed to the
TELNET option to receive screen dimensions each time the Kermit screen
changes size, then Kermit sends the appropriate TELNET Option report.
(24) MULTIPLE TCP/IP SESSIONS -- KERMIT'S TCP/IP SESSION MANAGER
MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 and later support up to six simultaneous TCP/IP sessions.
Each session is identified by a digit, 1 to 6. The commands are:
SET PORT TCP <ip-hostname-or-address> [ <tcp-port-number> ]
Starts a new session and assigns it a session number, 1 to 6.
In v3.14, command syntax was added to allow you to say whether a SET PORT TCP
<host> command should continue an existing session or start a new session, so
now it's possible to have multiple sessions to the same host:
SET PORT TCP/IP <host> <port> [ NEW ]
Starts a new session to the given host, even if there is an existing session
to that same host. NEW is the default.
SET PORT TCP/IP <host> <port> RESUME
Resumes a current session on the given host.
SET PORT TCP/IP <session number 1..6>
Resumes a current session whose session identification is 1..6.
Use SHOW SESSION to see which session numbers are defined.
\v(session)
This variable contains the current TCP/IP session number, 1 to 6.
\KnextSession
New CONNECT-mode keyboard verb to toggle instantaneously among active TCP/IP
sessions, round-robin style.
Alt-n
This is the default key assignment for the \KnextSession verb.
SHOW SESSIONS
Displays current sessions.
DEFINE SESSION1 <text>
Defines a macro to be executed when switching to session 1.
SESSION2 is for session 2, and so on, through SESSION6.
The terminal-emulation status line shows current session number and name.
Most communication- and terminal-related settings are preserved for each
session, including the last terminal screen, the key map, the terminal type,
echoing, etc. Use the SESSIONn macros to take care of any items that are not
preserved. The screen rollback buffer is common to all sessions.
Suppose you normally access two TCP/IP hosts, a DEC VMS and a Data General
AOS/VS system, and you would like to keep sessions to both alive at once.
Alt-n switches between them instantaneously, and you can also define
convenient macros for use at the command prompt or in script programs, such as
the following, which make the initial connection to each host, and then
redefine themselves to continue the same session thereafter:
define vax -
telnet vax 23 vt320,-
if success assign vax telnet \v(session)
define dg -
telnet dg 23 d463,-
if success assign dg telnet \v(session)
(TELNET is a macro defined in the MS-DOS Kermit MSCUSTOM.INI file. See
KERMIT.HLP for more information.)
When a connection is closed, the port number is lost. So if you had a TCP/IP
session to a non-TELNET port (i.e. not 23), and it was closed, and you
continue the session, it will connect to port 23 rather than to the session's
previous port.
(25) SMALL MEMORY-SIZE EDITIONS
A special "medium" edition of MS-DOS Kermit v3.14 shrinks the program
executable from about 262KB to 181KB (before packing; see next paragraph) by
removing all networking support and graphics terminal emulation. A "lite"
edition removes all terminal emulation and networking support, and so
communication is possible only in remote mode (e.g. on a BBS), or via script
programs. The size is about 121KB. Features omitted are displayed on the
startup herald and are also CHECK-able with the CHECK command. Lite editions
require separate patch files.
In version 3.14, Kermit executables are built (for the first time) with the
"pack" linker option, which shrinks the size of the .EXE file.
Normal Packed Savings
Full 262K 228K 34K
Medium 181K 158K 23K
Lite 121K 103K 18K
(26) BBS OPERATORS GUIDE
Most BBSs today either lack support for Kermit protocol, or supply a poor
implementation. Now BBSs can use the Real Thing, MS-DOS Kermit itself, as an
external protocol. "Kermit Lite" is a tiny but full-featured Kermit protocol
and script execution engine.
Why add or upgrade Kermit file transfer?
1. Make your BBS accessible to Kermit software programs, which do not
include support for other protocols. Recent releases of MS-DOS and
OS/2 C-Kermit include ANSI terminal emulation, favored by BBSs.
2. Kermit file transfer is (at least arguably) more robust than other
protocols used on BBSs. That is, it works better when connections
are noisy. And, properly implemented and configured, it is just as
fast or faster than other protocols.
3. Kermit protocol survives 7-bit connections; most other protocols
do not. This is important when callers arrive over public data networks
and other non-direct paths.
4. Kermit protocol can be used by Internet-accessible BBSs and other
services. It works well over TELNET connections, even 7-bit ones,
and Kermit TELNET clients are available for most popular operating
systems: DOS, Windows, OS/2, UNIX, VMS, etc.
5. Only Kermit protocol is capable of converting from one text character
set to another during text-file transfer: This is vital as the BBS
world becomes more international, and the BBS client hardware more
heterogeneous. Remember: Not all computers use IBM Code Pages to
to represent non-English text!
6. MS-DOS Kermit can "autoconfigure" callers for maximum performance,
and can initiate "autoupload" and "autodownload" operations without user
intervention, provided the client software is MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 or
later, or C-Kermit 5A(190) or later for UNIX, OS/2, or VMS.
Follow the instructions that come with your BBS software for installing
external protocols. Generally, you must disable the internal Kermit protocol,
if there is one. For example, set the security level of the internal Kermit
to "sysop", or at least out of reach of the normal caller. Then add Kermit as
an external protocol. This typically involves assigning a command letter to
the protocol and defining two MS-DOS batch files to be executed for uploads
and downloads, respectively.
(26.1) USING PORTS AND DRIVERS
MS-DOS Kermit operates over existing drivers and over existing settings of
standard serial ports. It leaves modem signal DTR asserted (high) when it
exits so a connection can persist beyond Kermit's use of the line. It uses
the existing port speed unless instructed otherwise, and it expects the port
to configured for 8 bits no parity (parity is handled internally by software).
If the communications hardware employs parity in hardware then tell Kermit to
use the same parity (command SET PARITY).
Fossil drivers (see Section 2 above) can be used by telling Kermit to SET PORT
FOSSIL n, where n is the Fossil port number (1 to 99). This enables efficient
block-mode i/o with the fossil driver. Speed and flow control must be set in
the fossil driver, not in Kermit. You can also use SET PORT BIOSn, n=1-4;
less efficient, but might work if SET PORT FOSSIL does not. If the hardware
ports are accessed via SET PORT COM1 or SET PORT 1 then the fossil driver
might or might not survive; please be careful.
Of course, you can also use Kermit's built-in COM port driver via SET PORT
COM1 thru COM4; this method will be fastest of all, but is limited to standard
COM ports. Non-standard serial port hardware and IRQs for COM1 to 4 are
stated to Kermit with command SET COMn <port> <irq>, where again n=1-4. COM
ports above 4 (e.g. on Digiboards) can be accessed via Fossil drivers or by
other tricks (see KERMIT.BWR).
(26.2) GENERAL SETUP
Kermit commands appearing in the BBS's MSKERMIT.INI file might be:
SET PARITY NONE ; Usually no parity on BBS
SET BLOCK 3 ; CRC checking for security
SET RECEIVE PACKET 2000 ; Long packets from client, upper limit
SET WINDOW 4 ; Sliding windows, upper limit
SET FILE TYPE BINARY ; Fine for all DOS to DOS transfers(*)
SET CONTROL UNPREFIX ALL ; Unprefix all control characters except...
SET CON P 0 1 3 13 17 19 129 131 141 145 147
SET RECEIVE PATH OFF ; Restrict uploads to current directory
SET FILE COLL OVERWRITE ; Incoming files overwrite old files of same name
SET CARRIER ON ; Recover from hangups immediately
SET FILE DISPLAY QUIET ; No file transfer display
SET BELL OFF ; Be quiet
SET EXIT WARNING OFF ; Unattended, don't ask for permission to exit
LOG TRANSACTION ; Log transfers to TRANSACT.LOG if desired(**)
DEFINE BSEND SET FILE TYPE BINARY, SEND \%1 ; Use macros for command
DEFINE TSEND SET FILE TYPE TEXT, SEND \%1 ; line brevity...
(*) Unless character-set translation is needed.
(**) Or specify a different filename; generate a unique one using \v(ndate)
and \v(ntime).
The MSKERMIT.INI settings can be overriden on the Kermit command line as
illustrated below.
The BBS software should invoke MS-DOS Kermit with "command-line arguments",
i.e. commands to be executed, given on the same line as the "kermit" command.
Multiple commands can be separated by commas. Kermit will execute the
commands and then exit automatically when done.
WARNING: There is a limit to how long a command line can be, usually
about 127. If you need to issue more commands than will fit on the
command line, simply collect them into a file, and then invoke Kermit
with a TAKE command for that file.
Communication parameters should be given on the Kermit command line for each
session, along with the file transfer commands. The initialization file is
read and executed, then the command line material is executed, and finally
Kermit exits when done. Examples (note the use of BSEND and TSEND macros):
kermit set port fossil 17, bsend foo.zip
kermit set port 2, set speed 57600, set flow rts/cts, bsend bar.zip
kermit set com3 \x3e8 5, set por 3, set flow rts/cts, set sp 57, bs baz.zip
kermit set port bios1, tsend oofa.txt
Real Kermit software, including MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 and later and C-Kermit
5A(190) and later (OS/2, UNIX, and VMS versions), when used to dial up a BBS,
can be configured automatically by the BBS software provided the caller has
"set terminal apc on" to enable this feature. The BBS software can then set
the optimal file transfer parameters in calling Kermit program, and also
initiate up- and downloads automatically. Read section 10, THE APC ESCAPE
SEQUENCE, in this document. For example:
kermit -f download.scr, set file type <text-or-binary>, send <filename>
where DOWNLOAD.SCR might look like this:
SET BLOCK 3 ; etc etc, as above
APC SET WINDOW 4, SET REC PACK 2000, RECEIVE
(26.3) FILE TRANSFER
When MS-DOS Kermit is to receive files, it can be invoked in several ways.
The transfer mode (text or binary) is determined by the file sender, unless
it is an extremely primitive Kermit implementation that does not support
attribute (A) packets (in which it must be given an explicit SET FILE TYPE
command first):
1. Receive a file or files, and store them according to the name they come
with; if the incoming name includes a disk letter or directory name,
use them when storing the file:
kermit set receive pathnames on, receive
2. Receive files, store them with the name they were sent with, but in the
current directory:
kermit set receive pathnames off, receive
3. Receive files, store them under their own names, but in the TEMP directory
on the D disk:
kermit receive d:\temp
4. Receive a file, store it with the name "oofa.txt" in the current
directory, no matter what name it was sent with:
kermit receive oofa.txt
5. Receive a file, store it as d:\uploads\abc.xyz, no matter what name
it was sent with:
kermit receive d:\uploads\abc.xyz
When MS-DOS Kermit is to send files, it can be given the name(s) of the
file(s) to send in several ways. In this case, Kermit should be told what
mode, text or binary, in which to send the file. The default mode is text,
but since the MSKERMIT.INI file might have changed the default, it is best
to be explicit about it.
1. A single filename on the command line, as in these examples:
kermit set file type text, send oofa.txt
kermit set file type binary, send oofa.zip
kermit set file type binary, send d:\zips\oofa.zip
or, using the BSEND and TSEND macros (defined above) for brevity:
kermit set tsend oofa.txt
kermit set bsend oofa.zip
kermit set bsend d:\zips\oofa.zip
2. A DOS-format wildcard specification on the command line, as in:
kermit tsend *.txt
kermit bsend *.zip
3. An indirect file specification, denoted by "@" as the first letter in
the filename, in which the named file contains a list of the names of
the files to be sent:
kermit set file type text, send @files.lst
The list of filenames can contain one filename per line, or it can
contain a comma-separated list of names, or any mixture of the two.
Filenames can contain disk letters, directory names, and DOS-format
wildcards.
4. Any other way you can think of, such as telling Kermit to execute a
command file:
kermit take download.scr
Kermits negotiate operating modes to find the greatest common denominator.
The sending Kermit makes the initial offer and the receiver responds. Thus
the BBS operator should place upper limits on packet length, sliding window
slots, and so on which suit the highest-performance clients and still let the
client negotiate operating conditions within those limits. We recommend long
packets, say 2000 bytes each, and four window slots as efficient parameters;
this consumes 8KB of file buffer memory (allocated dynamically from DOS for
each file transfer). For most PC-based BBSs a default setting of SET FILE
TYPE BINARY is suitable because the transfers are between like file systems
(DOS to DOS).
File transfer operations may be logged to a file with the command LOG
TRANSACTION (by default, the file is called TRANSACT.LOG).
Uploads can be restricted to the current directory using SET RECEIVE
PATHNAMES OFF. This is the default for KERLITE.EXE, but for larger versions
(those with terminal emulators) the default is ON.
To increase throughput to the last bit per second you may unprefix selected
control codes via the SET PREFIX command. Kermit will not unprefix XON/XOFF
codes if they are used for flow control, though we do recommend hardware flow
control (RTS/CTS) for best efficiency. Beware that many intervening
communications boxes may not pass all control codes, and which codes are fatal
is not testable from the outside. The biggest gain from unprefixing control
codes is usually seen with pre-compressed files, and that gain is about 25%
(which is the proportion of control to printable bytes in a random mixture).
APPENDIX I: NEW TERMINAL EMULATIONS - TECHNICAL SUMMARY
DEC VT, Heath, and Tektronix terminal emulation specifications are given in
Appendix II of "Using MS-DOS Kermit". The following sections briefly specify
Kermit's ANSI, Data General, and Wyse emulations.
I.1. ANSI TERMINAL EMULATION
ANSI terminal emulation is a VT100 subset but with:
. SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET TRANSPARENT, with PC code page 437 is used
transparently, favored by BBSs.
. The cursor goes to the home (upper left corner) after an erase in display
operation (ESC [ Pn J).
. Ctrl-L is treated as "home and clear screen".
. Ctrl-N (normally Shift-Out) is ignored.
. Host queries about terminal are answered as if a VT100.
. The initial screen coloring is forced to be dim white on black.
. The terminal status line shows terminal type ANSI.
I.2. DATA GENERAL DASHER TERMINAL EMULATION
Items marked with a * are not implemented in MS-DOS Kermit. XON/XOFF flow
control should be set to outgoing only or none or RTS/CTS because Ctrl-Q/S are
used as D463/D470 commands. Special D463/D470 Kermit command:
SET TERMINAL COMPRESSED-TEXT {GRAPHICS, TEXT-132}
The default is GRAPHICS, meaning compressed font characters are drawn as 5x14
dot pattern cells in IBM PC graphics mode, simulating a text screen. The
compressed font used in Graphics mode is Code Page CP437 or CP850. TEXT-132
means switch to 132-column EGA/VGA text mode and show all text with that font,
which only works if your graphics adapter supports this mode.
Graphics is way slower than text and only 128 character cells are available
across the screen (640 dots / 128 yields 5 dots per character cell including a
separation dot). If text is commanded and the display adapter cannot be
switched to 132 column mode, graphics is used instead. Compressed fonts are
available only on EGA/VGA adapters and above, not on Mono, CGA, or Hercules.
Note on line drawing, RS L and the RS G series of commands: the drawing
remains intact as long as the graphics screen is viewed. It is not preserved
if the user returns to the Kermit prompt or switches to the text screen (the
ALT - key, keyboard verb \ktermtype): the basic screen is first drawn from the
text screen and then line drawing dots are superimposed. Leaving this screen
means the text screen could change and thus a fresh version of it will always
overwrite the existing material. The line drawings are not preserved
separately from the underlying simulated text screen. The Data General
CEO_DRAW program provides a REFRESH command to restore graphics images.
A D463 terminal is a monochrome high-resolution text and graphics terminal, a
D470 is a similar full-color terminal. The D470 has fewer screen dots than
the D463 and uses a smaller graphics crosshair. A D463 graphics screen is 800
dots across by 576 high, a D470 graphic screen is 640 across by 480 high with
16 colors. Aside from a few status reports and the graphics details both
terminals use the same core emulator. VTxxx submode is not supported on
either terminal; please use Kermit's VT320 instead.
When the display adapter is in graphics mode character fonts are sought from
the display adapter and, when Code Pages are active, from the DOS Code Page
file EGA.SYS. Normal-width characters can be drawn from that file, but
compressed characters will be shown from a CP850 font if the current Code Page
is other than CP437. The DOS file EGA.SYS must be in the current directory on
along the PATH. CGA, monochrome, and Hercules video display adapters cannot
use Code Pages; only EGA/VGA and above can.
Special codes sent by DG keyboard function keys, not preassigned to PC keys
DG Key name Kermit Verb D463/D470 Data General native mode
prefix second character
F1..F15 dgF1..dgF15 RS q,r,s,t,u, v,w,x,y,z, {,|,},~,p
shift F1..F15 dgSF1..dgSf15 RS a,b,c,d,e, f,g,h,i,j, k,l,m,n,`
control F1..F15 none RS 1,2,3,4,5, 6,7,8,9,:, ;,<,=,>,0
ctrl-shft F1..F15 none RS !,",#,$,%, &,',(,),*, +,comma,-,.,
<space>
C1..C4 dgC1..dgC4 RS \,],^,_
shift C1..C4 none RS X,Y,Z,[
Uparrow uparr Control-W
Rightarrow rtarr Control-X
Leftarrow lfarr Control-Y
Downarrow dnarr Control-Z
Home none Control-H
shift Uparrow none RS Control-W
shift Rightarrow none RS Control-X
shift Leftarrow none RS Control-Y
shift Downarrow none RS Control-Z
shift Home none RS Control-H
Erase EOL none Control-K
Erase Page none Control-L
Cmd-Print none RS Control-U
shift Cmd-Print none RS Control-A
POINT dgPoint Full graphics cursor position report
SPCL dgSPCL none, used as prefix for compounds
NC dgNC none, toggles screen between Normal and
Compress fonts, same as if the host sent
RS F J or RS F K.
The mouse: When Kermit is in graphics mode, a Microsoft-compatible mouse may
be used to control the graphics crosshair. The left mouse button sends the
POINT command, and the right button sends the dgF1 keyboard verb. The DG F1
key frequently means "execute" to many utilities. On DG keyboards POINT is
the key combination CMD CURSOR-TYPE.
RECEIVED CODES AND ACTIONS
Note: <n> is the lower four bits of a byte, <nn> is the lower four bits of two
consecutive bytes as high- then low-order portions of an 8-bit result. Such
input bytes may have anything in the upper four bits.
Control Seq Hex Description of Action
Control-@ 00h Used as data within a command
Control-A 01h Print form. Only bold characters in current
window at cursor row and below, followed by
sending a Control-F character to the host.
Control-B 02h Reverse video off
Control-C 03h Blink enable, affects only new chars in Kermit
Control-D 04h Blink disable, affects only new chars
Control-E 05h Read window address
Report is Control-_<col><row> in binary
Control-G 07h Bell
Control-H 08h Window home, go upper left corner of window
Control-I 09h Tab horizontally
Control-J 0Ah Newline, can scroll window if Roll Mode is on,
else cursor wraps to upper left corner (Home).
Landing on a protected character yields a
cursor right operation.
Control-K 0Bh Erase cursor to end of line (stops on first
protected mode character)
Control-L 0Ch Erase window, cursor to window home
Control-M 0Dh Carriage return. Go to left margin. If that
character is protected then a cursor right
is performed.
Control-N 0Eh Blink on
Control-O 0Fh Blink off
Control-P <col><row> 10h Write window address, 255 is do not change.
Addresses are in unencoded binary.
Control-Q 11h Print window. All characters in current
window at cursor row and below, followed by
sending a Control-F character to the host.
Control-R 12h Roll Mode enable (default)
Control-S 13h Roll Mode disable
Control-T 14h Underscore on
Control-U 15h Underscore off
Control-V 16h Reverse video on
Control-W 17h Cursor up. Wraps top to bottom in the window.
Landing on a protected character yields a
cursor left operation.
Control-X 18h Cursor right. End of line wrap executes New
Line. Landing on a protected character repeats
the cursor right command (stops at start).
Control-Y 19h Cursor left. Start of line wrap executes a
cursor up at right margin. Repeats if a
protected mode character is encountered, and
stops at starting point if looping.
Control-Z 1Ah Cursor down, one line, same column. Wraps
in window bottom to top, landing on a
protected character yields a cursor right.
Control-[ 1Bh Escape char
Control-\ 1Ch Dim on
Control-] 1Dh Dim off
Control-^ 1Eh DG escape char (ASCII name RS)
Control-_ 1Fh Used as data within a command
DG Escape Seq Description of Action
RS A <n> Set foreground color (D470). A D463 uses this
only for polygon fill. Kermit uses D470 style.
<n> is a color code whose 4 lower bits mean:
0 = black, 1..8 = bold blue, green, cyan, red,
magenta, yellow, white, respectively, and
9 = dark grey, 10..16 = dim versions of above.
RS B <n> Set background color (D470). As above
RS C Read model id
Report is RS o # <m><x><y>
<m> is ASCII 6 (D463/D413)
or 44 decimal (D470)
<x> is 010CP000 binary byte
C = 0 if 7 bit, = 1 if 8 bit comms
P = 0 if not, = 1 if printer is available
<y> is 0101LLLL binary byte
LLLL is keyboard nationality
0010 Norwegian
0011 Swiss/French (French in Kermit)
0100 Swiss/German (Swiss in Kermit)
1010 French-Canadian
0110 Katakana (not implemented in Kermit)
1000 French-Canadian
1001 US English
1010 United Kingdom
1011 French
1100 German
1101 Swedish/Finnish
1110 Spanish
1111 Danish/Norwegian
RS D Reverse video on
RS E Reverse video off
RS H Scroll up
RS I Scroll down
RS J Insert character
RS K Delete character
RS F 7 <nn> *Select printer NRC
RS F 8 *Display char generator contents, diagnostics
RS F 9 Fill screen with grid, diagnostics
RS F ? 0 Simulprint off (print and display together)
RS F ? 1 Simulprint on (print and display together)
RS F ? 2 Print pass through off (transparent printing)
RS F ? 3 Print pass through on (transparent printing)
RS F ? 5 *Window bit dump
RS F ? 6 *Form bit dump
RS F ? 7 VT style autoprint off (whole line printing)
RS F ? 8 VT style autoprint on (whole line printing)
RS F ? : Print Screen. All characters on the screen,
followed by sending a Control-F character
to the host.
RS F ; <command> *Data trap mode, debugging (use SET DEBUG ON)
RS F < *Perform UART loopback, diagnostics
RS F > <char> Fill screen with character, diagnostics
RS F A Reset the terminal emulator
RS F B <nn><n>..<nn><n> Set Windows (each is full width of screen
and each scrolls h/v independently)
<nn> number of lines in window (24 == full screen)
<n>=0/1 normal/compressed (compress=graphics fake-text
or 132 columns, user selectable, in Kermit)
Command ends on 24 lines or on <00><n>.
Screen is auto centered. Cursor to screen home.
RS F C <nn> Scroll left <nn> columns (if Horiz scroll is
enabled)
RS F D <nn> Scroll right <nn> columns (ditto)
RS F E Erase screen, cursor to screen home, window
settings are preserved.
RS F F Erase unprotected characters from the cursor
position to the end of the window.
RS F G Screen home, go to upper left corner of screen.
Landing on a protected character yields a
cursor right operation.
RS F H Insert line, text moves down in window
RS F I Delete line, text moves up in window. If the
cursor is on a protected character a cursor
right command is executed.
RS F J Select normal spacing (80 column mode)
RS F K Select compressed spacing (132 column mode)
RS F L Protect on, applies to chars until Protect off,
RS F M Protect off
RS F N <nnn><n><n> Change attributes in current window
<nnn> number of chars to change, starting at cursor
<n> attributes to set
bit 3 dim
bit 2 reverse video
bit 1 underscore
bit 0 blink
<n> attributes to reset, as above
Both set and reset means toggle.
RS F O Read horizontal scroll offset
Report is RS o : <nn> where <nn> is window
horizontal scroll value (columns)
RS F P <nn><nn> Write screen attributes
<nn> absolute screen column for cursor
<nn> absolute screen row for cursor
RS F Q <n> Set cursor type
<n> cursor type
0 disable/hide, and save current
1 blinking
2 reverse video block (PC cursors always blink)
3 blinking reverse video block
4 underscore
5 display cursor with saved attributes
RS F R <char><dd>..<dd> *Define character, 12 or 10 <dd> items,
10x12 cell for D463, 8x10 for D470.
RS F S <nn> Select Character Set
<nn> character set
00 keyboard language
01 US ASCII
02 UK ASCII (sharp sign # relaced by Pound Sterling)
03 NRC French
04 NRC German
05 NRC Swedish/Finnish
06 NRC Spanish
07 NRC Danish/Norwegian
08 NRC Swiss
09 NRC Kata Kana (G0) not supported in Kermit
0E DG International
0F Kata Kana (G1) not supported in Kermit
11 Line Drawing
13 DG Special Graphics (CP437 GR)
14 DEC Multinational
15 DEC Special Graphics (line drawing)
1D Low PC Term (CP437 GL)
1E High PC Term (CP437 GR)
1F Latin1 (ISO 8859-1)
20 et seq soft fonts not supported in Kermit
RS F T <n> *Set scroll rate
<n>
0 disable smooth scroll
1 enable smooth scroll at 5 rows/sec
2 enable smooth scroll at 10 rows/sec
RS F U <n> Select 7/8 bit operation
<n>, 0 = 7-bits, 1 = 8-bits in and out
RS F V Protect enable, permit protect on/off to work
RS F W Protect disable
RS F X <nn><nn> Set margins
<nn>, first is left margin, second is right margin
both in the range of 0 to 206, inclusive. Screen
may be scrolled to make both margins visible (left
margin dominates). Cursor moves to left margin.
RS F Y <nn><nn><nn> Set alternate margins, relative to current
<nn> row to place cursor on, 0..24, wrt window top.
<nn> column of new left margin, wrt permanent left.
<nn> column of new right margin, wrt new left.
255 value means do not change
Disables horizontal scrolling
RS F Z Restore normal margins, removes alt margins,
reenables horizontal scrolling
RS F ] Horizontal scroll disable
RS F \ Delete line between margins (push up)
RS F [ Insert line between margins (push up)
RS F ^ Horizontal scroll enable (default)
RS F _ <nn><nn> Show columns (align window l/r to show text)
<nn> left most col to display, 0..206
<nn> right most col to display, 0..206
Screen may be scrolled to make both margins visible
(left margin dominates).
RS F ` Print Pass Through on (not transparent print)
RS F a Print Pass Through off
RS F b Read screen address (cursor position)
Report is RS o 8 <nn><nn> for col,row
RS F c <n><n><n><n> *Set color map, D470. Use Kermit command
Set Terminal Color.
RS F d Read characters remining
Report is RS o 9 <high><low> (binary)
Always zero remaining in Kermit
RS F e <n><n> Reserve character (no action in Kermit, none
is needed.)
RS F f <n> Set keyboard language
<n>
0 set language to default (National)
1 set language to GL=ASCII, GR=DG International
2 set language to GL=ASCII, GR=Latin1 ISO 8859.1
RS F h *Push
RS F i *Pop
RS F k <mode><key><length><string> *Host programmable function keys
RS F m 0 *Read cursor contents, diagnostics
RS F m 4 *Character loopback, diagnostics
RS F m 5 *Hot key switch, dual emulation
RS F m 6 *Read bit contents, diagnostics
RS F r <n><pos><time> *Set clock time
RS F q <nn><nn> *Deallocate character sets
RS F s <n> *Save/restore screen contents
<n> 0=save, 1=restore
RS F t Report screen size
Reports RS o <nn><nn><nn><nn><status>
rows, columns(207), rows in window, columns in
window (right-left margins+1), status=70h
RS F v <r1><c1><r2><c2> Read window contents
Reports chars in window from row1, col1
to row2, col2, without attributes
RS F w Read new model id
Reports RS o w <class><service><rev><name><reserved>
<class> is 8 D460/D470 level
<service> is 01
<revision> is 00 firmware rev (Kermit = 0)
<name> is "D463 " (8 bytes)
or "D470 " (for the D470 emulator)
<reserved> is " " (4 bytes)
RS F x <n> Printer pass back to host
Reports RS R x 0 (mode cannot be set, Kermit)
RS F z <n> Set 25th line mode
<n>
0 display status line
1 put msg on line, msg is <nn>text
following this cmd
2 *use as extra screen row
3 blanked
RS F { <nn><n> Set model id <nn> and graphics ability <n>
RS F } <n><n> Named save/restore cursor
<n> sets memory number, 0..15, for save
<n> 0=save to memory, 1=restore from memory
Saves/restores cursor location and shape.
RS F ~ <nn> *Switch emulation mode, dual emulation
RS G 0 <nnn><nnn><nnn><nnn><nnn> Arc (center x, center y, radius, start
angle, stop angle). Angle is deg CCW from
+x axis. <nnn> are "location arguments."
Manual is in error on this item. DG screen
coordinates of 0..799 (x), 0..574 (y) D463
or 0..639 (x), 0..479 (y) D470.
RS G 1 <nnn><nnn><nnn><nnn><n> Bar. Arguments are lower left x,y corner
width, height, and <n> for foreground (1)
or background (0) filling color.
RS G 8 <loc_list><null> Line drawing <loc_list> is list of x,y pairs
using "location arguments".
RS G @ Cursor attributes. Report is
RS o , <crosshair> 0 <crosssize> <tracked>
where <crosshair> is 0 or 1 for off/on,
<crosssize> is 1 for D463 and 0 for D470,
<tracked> is 0, 2, 4 or 6 for tracked devices
of none, keyboard, mouse, both, respectively.
RS G A Graphics cursor reset (no cursor, no tracking)
RS G B Graphics cursor on
RS G C Graphics cursor off
RS G H <n> Graphics cursor track
<n> bit field, 0 for nothing
2 for keyboard arrow keys,
4 for mouse, default nothing
RS G I <n> *D470, set graphics crosshair (cursor) color.
Not implemented because Kermit uses XOR with
existing screen dots.
RS G : <loc><null> Polygon fill (non-intersecting polygon)
<loc> is up to 255 x,y pairs of sequential
vertices, in location argument format.
RS G p 1 <offset><pat><null> Set pattern for line drawings. Kermit supports
only a 16 bit pattern, and no offset editing.
RS G ? | Read cursor location. Reports
RS o | <space><xxxxx><space><yyyyy><CR>
D463 Manual is in error and says RS O | etc.
RS G > | <nnn><nnn> Set cursor location, graphics crosshair.
RS H Scroll up (in window). Window text moves up
one line, blank line is inserted at bottom.
Cursor remains fixed on screen unless it is
on a protected character, then a cursor right
is executed.
RS I Scroll down (in window). Window text moves
down one line, blank line is inserted at top,
cursor remains fixed on the screen.
RS J Insert character. Insert a space at the curror,
push right, lose excess. First protected
character is temporary right margin.
RS K Delete character at cursor position, pull
left. First protected character is temporary
right margin.
RS L <loc_list><null> Line drawing. Same as RS G 8 above.
RS N Shift out (GLeft pointed to G1)
RS O Shift in (GLeft pointed to G0, default)
RS P @ <n> *Unix mode
<n>, 0 = enter, 1 = exit Unix mode
RS R @ <nn> *Set row length
RS R A 0 <nn><n> *Set split screen mode, dual emulation
RS R A 1 <nn> *Set first row to display, dual emulation
RS R B <type><ff><cs><graph> *Set Device Options
RS R C <ss><rr> *Field attributes
<ss>=<nn> set, <rr>=<nn> reset
bit 4 blank (invisible)
bit 3 dim
bit 2 reverse video
bit 1 underscore
bit 0 blink
toggle if both set and reset
RS R D <ss><rr> *Page Attributes
<ss>=<nn> set, <rr>=<nn> reset
bit 3 dim
bit 2 reverse video
bit 1 underscore
bit 0 blink
toggle if both set and reset
RS R E <n> Double high/wide characters (as char blank)
<n>
0 normal row
1 double wide
2 double high top
3 double high bottom
4 double high top/double wide
5 double high bottom/double wide
(The D470 does not support RS R commands)
--------------------
D470 ANSI-Mode Additions
Control Seq Hex Description of Action
Control-G 07h Bell
Control-H 08h Backspace
Control-J 0Ah Newline, can scroll window if Roll Mode is on,
else cursor wraps to upper left corner (Home).
Landing on a protected character yields a
cursor right operation.
Control-L 0Ch Form Feed, treated as New Line
Control-M 0Dh Carriage return. Go to left margin. If that
character is protected then a cursor right
is performed.
Control-N 0Eh Shift out
Control-O 0Fh Shift in
Control-Q 11h XOFF flow control
Control-S 13h XON flow control
Control-[ 1Bh Escape char
SS2 8eh Single shift 2
SS3 8fh Single shift 3
DCS 90h Device control sequence introducer
CSI 9bh Control sequence introducer
ST 9ch String (DCS) terminator
ESC c Reset to initial state
ESC D Index (can scroll screen upward)
ESC E Next Line (LF)
ESC M Reverse index (can scroll down)
ESC N SS2
ESC P DCS
ESC O SS3
ESC V Start protected area
ESC W End protected area
ESC \ ST
ESC Pg Pset Select character set
Pg is ( ) * + for G0..G3
RS F S Pset
equiv <space>0 .. <space>? DRCB 1..16
!0 .. !5 DRCB 17..22
(all mapped to one set at the moment)
00 0 keyboard language
06 1 Spanish
07 2 Danish/Norwegian
08 3 Swiss
0e 4 DGI
10 5 WP/math/Greek
11 6 Line Drawing
100 (soft) 7 *Mosaics
02 A UK
01 B US
05 H Swedish/Finnish
0f I *Katakana G1
09 J *Katakana G0
04 K German
03 L French
CSI Pc @ Insert Pc spaces under cursor
CSI Pc <space> @ Scroll left Pc columns
CSI Pc A Cursor up Pc rows
CSI Pc <space> A Scroll right Pc columns
CSI Pc B Cursor down Pc rows
CSI Pc C Cursor forward Pc columns
CSI Pc D Cursor backward Pc columns
CSI row; col H Cursor to row, column
CSI Pc J Erase in display (Pc = 0,1,2)
CSI Pc K Erase in line (Pc = 0,1,2)
CSI Pc L Insert Pc lines under cursor
CSI Pc M Delete Pc lines under cursor
CSI Pc P Delete Pc chars under cursor
CSI Pc S Scroll up Pc rows
CSI Pc T Scroll down Pc rows
CSI row; col f Cursor to row, column
CSI Pc; Pc;.. h Set mode
Pc mode
1 guarded area transfer (for printing)
6 erasure
<0 roll
<1 blink
<2 horizontal scroll
<3 DG ANSI mode
<4 forms mode
<5 margins mode
CSI Pc i Media copy (Pc= 0, <0, 4, 5)
CSI mode; mode;... l Reset mode (see Set mode above)
CSI Pc; Pc;... m Set graphic rendition
Pc action
0 all visual attributes off
2 dim on
4 underscore on
5 blink on
7 reverse video on
30 .. 37 bold foreground color (1=red, 2=green, 4=blue)
38,39 ignored (reserved, default foreground color)
40 .. 47 background color (always dim)
48,49 ignored (reserved, default background color)
>0 .. >7 dim foreground color
=0 .. =7 background color (always dim)
CSI Pc n Device status report
Reports ESC [ 0 n meaning ready
CSI loc; width; height; color p Draw bar
CSI loc; radius; start; end <space> p Draw arc
CSI count; onvalue; offvalue q Change attributes
CSI <space> q Read graphics cursor
CSI <space> r Read cursor attributes
CSI Pc; set; num s Read/Reserve characters
Reports 2000 chars available
CSI color <space> s *Graphics cursor color
CSI Pc t Read offset (Pc=0)/Show columns(Pc=1)
CSI x; y <space> t Write graphics cursor (to x,y)
CSI row; col u Screen position (RS F P style)
CSI <space> u Cursor (graphics) off
CSI Pc; Pv; Pc; Pv;... v Set parameters
what Pc Pv
defaults 0 *select defaults for below
kbd lang 1 0 keyboard nationality char set in use
1 DGI (default
7/8 bit 2 0 7-bit
1 8-bit
cursor type 3 0 not displayed
1 blinking underscore
2 reverse video block
3 blinking reverse video block
*scroll rate 4 0 jump
1 smooth, 5 bit rows/sec
2 smooth, 10 bit rows/sec
CSI <space> v Cursor (graphics) on
CSI Pc; Pseries w Set margins
Pc = 0, exit alt temp margins
Pc = 1, set absolute margins at left; right
Pc = 2, set temp alt margins at row; left; right
CSI <space> w Cursor reset
CSI x Read terminal configuration
CSI Pc <space> x Cursor track
CSI n1; n2;...n16 y Set print colors
CSI n1; n2; n3; n4 <space> z Set color map
CSI <space> | *Push
CSI <space> } *Pop
DCS A <char><string of dd> ST Define character
DCS B <string of loc> ST Draw line
DCS C <offset><pattern> ST Set Pattern (for line drawing)
DCS D <string of nn n> ST Set Windows
DCS E <string of loc> ST Draw polygon
DCS F ST Report failures
Report is DCS F ST meaning no failures
DG Key name Kermit Verb D470 Data General ANSI mode
prefix second character
F1..F15 dgF1..dgF15 ESC [ 01 z .. ESC [ 14 z ESC [ 00 z
C1..C4 dgC1..dgC4 ESC [ 20 z .. ESC [ 23 z
Uparrow uparr ESC [ A
Rightarrow rtarr ESC [ C
Leftarrow lfarr ESC [ D
Downarrow dnarr ESC [ B
I.3. WYSE-50 TERMINAL EMULATION
CONTROL
SEQUENCE HEX DESCRIPTION OF ACTION
Control-E 05h returns answerback string (see SET TERM ANSWERBACK)
Control-G 07h sounds bell
Control-H 08h cursor to left one column
Control-I 09h cursor to right one tab stop
Control-J 0ah cursor down one row (can scroll the screen)
Control-K 0bh cursor up one row
Control-L 0ch cursor right one column
Control-M 0dh cursor to left margin
Control-N 0eh unlocks keyboard, ignored
Control-O 0fh locks keyboard, ignored
Control-R 12h turns on controller printing
Control-T 14h turns off controller and transparent printing
Control-X 18h turns on transparent printing (Wyse-60)
Control-Z 1ah clears all unprotected cells to spaces
Control-[ 1bh Escape, escape sequence introducer
Control-^ 1eh cursor to home (upper left corner)
Control-_ 1fh cursor to left margin and next row down
Other Control codes are ignored.
WYSE ESCAPE SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION OF ACTION (* = Not Supported)
ESC <space> report terminal ident, send 3 bytes "50<c/r>"
ESC ! attrib writes all unprotected cells with attribute
code attrib (Blank attribute is ignored)
attrib action
0 normal video
1 *blank
2 blink
3 *blank
4 reverse video
8 underscore
40h dim
(attrib is a byte with these bits as components,
using a bias of ASCII "0", 30h)
ESC " *unlocks keyboard, ignored
ESC # *locks keyboard, ignored
ESC & turns on protected mode, autoscroll to off
ESC ' turns off protected mode, autoscroll to on
ESC ( turns off write protect mode
ESC ) turns on write protect mode
ESC * clears screen to nulls (Kermit uses spaces),
protected mode to off
ESC + clears screen to spaces, protected mode off
ESC , clears screen to protected spaces, protect
mode is off. (Kermit clears with unprotected
spaces)
ESC - nrc cursor to text segment n and row, col
(Kermit supports only text segment 0)
(r and c are a binary value plus 20h)
ESC . code clear all unprotected cells which have char
codes of "code". "code" is expressed in hex.
ESC / sends to host the text segment and row, col
in same format as ESC - nrc command
ESC 0 clear all tab stops
ESC 1 set tab stop at cursor position
ESC 2 clear tab stop at cursor position
ESC 4 *sends to host all unprotected cells from start
of row
ESC 5 *sends to host all unprotected cells from start
of text
ESC 6 *sends to host all cells from start of row
ESC 7 *sends to host all cells from start of text
ESC 8 write start of message char (STX, 02h)
ESC 9 write end of message char (ETX, 03h)
ESC : clear all unprotected cells to nulls (Kermit
clears with spaces)
ESC ; clear all unprotected cells to spaces
ESC = rc cursor to row, col (for 80 columns only)
(r and c are a binary value plus 20h)
ESC ? sends to host the cursor address in the form
rc CR (for 80 columns only)
ESC @ *sends all unprotected cells from start of
text to the auxillary port, terminates lines
with CR LF NULL
ESC A n attrib sets video attribute for a message field or
for entire display (n = 0). Kermit supports
only the entire display.
ESC B *enter block mode
ESC C *exit block mode to conversational mode
ESC D x *change between half and full duplex
ESC E insert row of spaces, bottom moves down
ESC F text CR *enter message into message field
ESC G attrib set video attribute for future operations
ESC H x enter "graphics" char at cursor, x = 0..?
for selected CP437 line drawing symbols.
x symbol x symbol
0 top tee 8 center plus
1 lower left corner 9 left center tee
2 top left corner : horizontal bar
3 top right corner ; light crosshatch
4 left center tee < double horz bar
5 lower right corner = bottom center tee
6 vertical bar > double vertical bar
7 dark crosshatch ? medium crosshatch
STX start translating as above until ESC H ETX
ETX end translating as above
ESC I cursor left to previous tab stop
ESC J *activate alternate text segment
ESC K *activate alternate text segment
ESC L *send all chars unformatted to aux port
ESC M send to host the char code at the cursor
ESC N turns on no-scroll mode
ESC O turns off no-scroll mode
ESC P send all chars to auxillary port
ESC Q insert a character, right part moves right
ESC R delete a row, bottom moves up
ESC S *sends a message unprotected
ESC T erases all cells from cursor to end of row
ESC U *turns on monitor mode (use SET DEBUG ON)
ESC V sets cursor column to protected
ESC W delete a character, right side moves left
ESC X *turns off monitor mode
ESC Y erase all cells from cursor to end of screen
replacing them with spaces
ESC ] *activates text segment 0
ESC ` n sets screen feature n
n feature
0 cursor off
1 cursor on
2 steady block (PC cursor always blinks)
3 blinking line
4 steady line
5 blinking block
A normal protect char (Kermit interprets these
6 reverse protect char as meaning protect all
7 dim protect char future characters)
8 *screen display off
9 *screen display on
: 80 column screen
; 132 column screen
<,=,>,?, and @ are scroll rates (unsupported)
ESC a rr R ccc C move cursor to row and column (ASCII decimal)
ESC b sends to host the cursor address in same form
as ESC a above
ESC d # turn on transparent printing
ESC i cursor right to next tab stop
ESC j cursor up one row and begins scrolling at
top row (Kermit can't make any sense of the
latter part of this and stops cursor at top)
ESC k *turn on local edit mode
ESC l *turn on duplex edit mode
ESC p sends all chars unformatted to auxillary port
ESC q turns on insert mode
ESC r turns off insert mode
ESC s *sends a message
ESC t erase from cusor to end of row, fill with
nulls (Kermit always erases with spaces)
ESC u turn off monitor mode
ESC x n HSR *change screen format (split screen)
ESC y erase from curosr to end of screen, fill with
nulls (Kermit always erases with spaces)
ESC z n text CR *enter msg into function key labels or into
function key codes
ESC z DEL *turns off shifted key label line
ESC { cursor to home (upper left corner)
ESC } *activates text segment 1
Wyse Key name Kermit Verb Wyse-50 code
F1..F16 wyF1..wyF16 SOH <c> CR where SOH is 01h and <c> is
@,A,B,C,D, E,F,G,H,I, J,K,L,M,N, O
shift F1..F16 wySF1..wySF16 as above but <c> is
`,a,b,c,d, e,f,g,h,i, j,k,l,m,n, o
Uparrow uparr Control-K
Rightarrow rtarr Control-L
Leftarrow lfarr Control-H
Downarrow dnarr Control-J
The following Wyse escape sequences are recognized but ignored:
ESC " unlocks keyboard
ESC # locks keyboard
ESC 4 sends all unprotected chars from start of row
to the host computer
ESC 5 sends all unprotected chars from start-of-text
to the host computer
ESC 6 sends all chars from start of row to host computer
ESC 7 sends all chars from start-of-text to host computer
ESC @ sends all unprotected chars from start-of-text to
the auxillary port. Each row is terminated with CR LF NULL
ESC B places the terminal in block mode
ESC D selects half or full duplex modes
ESC F enters a message in the host message field
ESC J activates the alternate text segment
ESC K same as ESC J (who knows what "activates" means?)
ESC L sends all chars unformatted to the auxillary port
ESC P sends all chars to auxillary port regardless of mode
settings (whatever that means)
ESC U turns on monitor mode
ESC X turns off monitor mode
ESC ] activates text segment 0
ESC k turns on the local edit submode
ESC l turns on the duplex edit submode
ESC p sends all chars unformatted to the auxillary port, attribute
codes are sent as spaces. Row-end seq not sent. Same as ESC L
ESC s sends a message
ESC u turns on monitor mode, same as ESC X
ESC x changes screen display format (screen splitting)
ESC z enters a message into the selected function key
label field or programs user-defined function key
ESC } activates text segment 1
WYSE GRAPHICS CHARACTERS
When ESC H single or locking shifts are in effect, the following ASCII
characters map to the following graphic (line/box-drawing) characters. These
are available in PC Code Page 437, as well as in most other commonly used code
pages including CP850, etc.
Maps to
ASCII PC char
0 48 194 Middle box top
1 49 192 Lower left box corner
2 50 218 Upper left box corner
3 51 191 Upper right box corner
4 52 195 Left middle box side
5 53 217 Lower right box corner
6 54 179 Center box bar vertical
7 55 178 Fill character heavy
8 56 197 Box intersection
9 57 180 Right middle box side
: 58 196 Center box bar horizontal
; 59 177 Fill character medium
< 60 205 Center box bar horizontal double
= 61 193 Middle box bottom
> 62 186 Center box vertical double
? 63 176 Fill character light
(End of KERMIT.UPD / MSKERM.UPD)